Dancing Partner
by Goth-Punk88
Summary: Sasuke is back on the leaf, but not many are happy with his return. To convince them to give him a chance, Naruto gets Tsunade to organize a party on Sasuke’s honor. The catch? Sasuke has to find a date. And that’s where his problems start. SasuIno. NS
1. Prologue: Meet Sasuke

**Title: _Dancing Partner._**

**By: _Goth-Punk88_**

**Series:** Naruto.

**Genre: General – Romance.**

**Pairing: SasuIno.** Others.

**A/N's: **This is new idea that occurred to me.. It'll be a multi-chapter fic, so look forward to the next chapter.

Also, please review **but no flames.**

Thanks :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, and sadly, I never will -.-

**Summary: **Sasuke is back on the village, and to welcome him back, Naruto organizes a party. The problem? You have to get yourself a date. What will Sasuke do when none other than Tsunade tells him that succeeding is the trick to being accepted back in the village?

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**Dancing Partner.**

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* * *

**Prologue.**

**- -**

The trouble started suddenly, and unexpectedly.

Everything was looking just fine; better than he would have hoped. But as always, something just _had_ to happen. Or actually, _Naruto_ always had to make it happen.

Really, he never asked for his help, and the reason was because he knew damn well that his ideas were always the worst of all—even when the blonde thought they were genius.

That morning, he had already been expecting him; after all, he came everyday, and this one was special. Three days, three more days and he would be out of that hell called Konoha's Secret Interrogation Departments Confines.

So, when the blonde barged in through the door and the two Anbus that usually guarded him left the two alone, he didn't show an ounce of surprise. Nor did he when he saw the extremely bright grin that the boy was wearing, or the odd glint that his blue eyes had.

But he certainly almost had a heart-attack when the blonde finally told him what he had come to say.

"Sasuke-teme! I have _great_ news for your sorry-ass!"

* * *

_Naruto sighed, narrowing his eyes and glaring thoughtfully at the ground, his hands folded at his thighs and his thumbs moving together in an almost Hinataish-fashion. _

_The blonde woman who was calmly sitting in the seat behind the desk merely looked at him fixatedly, studying every little detail in the boy's demeanor and appearance, taking in with most worry the dark circles under his eyes, and the worried creases that were starting to become permanent in his brow._

_Sighing just like Naruto had done mere seconds ago, Tsunade leaned towards the blonde, placing her elbows on the desk and supporting her head on her hand._

"_What do you want me to do?"_

_Naruto's brow furrowed even further, but then he raised his head. His determined and sorrow-filled blue eyes meeting Tsunade's golden ones._

"_Anything. Anything would be better than this," he replied gloomily, his orbs shinning with contained sadness. And then, his voice lowered an octave and his eyes focused on the ground once again. "It's been two months already, and Sasuke is still in there. He's coming out soon, and I don't want him to face what's waiting for him outside." slowly, his fists clenched, and he closed his eyes. "No one seems happy to have him back, no one seems willing to forgive him. And I don't understand! How come they can be such hypocrites? They used to love him, for heaven's sake! He used to be the golden child of everyone in Konoha! How come they can't remember that anymore? How come they can't give him a chance?!"_

_Tsunade merely sighed once again, not at all surprised by Naruto's outburst. She was already expecting it, she had been all along. It was just a matter of time before Naruto finally realized what was truly going to happen when Sasuke came out of Konoha's department, and she already knew that when he finally found out, he wouldn't like it at all. She knew he would react like this._

"_You've got to understand them, Naruto." She started, looking at the red-polished nails of her left hand with mundane interest._

"_How can you ask me to do that?! They aren't giving him a chance! They just don't want to! They used to love him, damn it!"_

"_And _that's_ exactly the reason why they're acting like this," The woman calmly stated, cutting him short before he got too hot-headed and out of control, like he used to all those years ago. Sighing inwardly, Tsunade decided that it was time to start taking things seriously and finally diverted her eyes from her nails and placed them onto Naruto's angry form, "They used to love him, like you yourself said before. They used to have him on a pedestal, used to see him as a prodigy and sympathized with him for the tragedy his family went through. They saw him grow and become strong, they saw him succeed, and they always supported him from the sidelines, always doing their best to be nice to him, always respecting him. And then, what does he do? What does he pay them with?_

"_He stabs them in the back; without any kind of consideration, without any kind of regrets. And really, can you blame them for being bitter about him?" She looks at him for quite a long time, letting her words sink in his brain, before adding, slowly, "You know how that feels better than anyone else, Naruto."_

_Once again he lowers his eyes, gulping dejectedly, but looking a lot calmer than he had been just seconds ago. _

_It was almost a full minute after Tsunade's words that Naruto spoke again._

"_...And that's why I can't understand them, old-hag." She merely raised one eyebrow in slight amusement, getting a hold of herself instead of jumping on him and beating the crap out of his young body for even daring to call her such a thing. "He betrayed me, he tried to _kill_ me. But I forgave him, I welcomed him back. I'm willing to forget and leave everything behind," he raises his head, and his eyes are deep and full of sorrow, just like his voice, "Why can't they do the same?"_

_After a few seconds, Tsunade spoke again, her voice softer but just as steady and commanding as it has always been, "Because not everyone is as big-hearted as you, Naruto."_

_The both of them lapsed into a peaceful silence after her truthful words, deep down, both of them knowing that they were true; not everyone was like Naruto, not everyone could forgive and forget just as easily as he did, and that was a sad fact that he would have to come to live with._

"_Baa-chan…"_

_The woman diverts her eyes from the sunny blue-sky that shone brightly through the window, and places them onto her favorite shinobi. "What?"_

_Naruto's eyes are shining with determination, and his mouth is pressed onto a firm line before it contorts into a slight smile, then widens into a semi-grin._

"…_I have an idea."_

_Raising both her eyebrows in surprise, the blonde leaned back in her chair, "An idea?" The boy sent a nod in her direction, and she arched her eyebrows further, slight interest present in her expression, "And that is…?"_

_Naruto waits a couple of seconds, before grinning openly, "**A party.**"_

_This time, Tsunade blinks with utter surprise, "A party?" She echoes, not really understanding Naruto's idea._

"_Yeah, not quite like a festival but kind of like a dance!" The Kyuubi-vessel exclaims, excited, and sends her one of his brightest grins, "Let's give him a welcome party! I'm sure that will have to make everyone gather together, and then they would realize that he has changed, and they will love him just like they used to all those years ago!"_

_It was ironic, really, that he out of all people seemed so eager to have Sasuke regaining his position as Konoha's favorite child; after all, he used to despise that aspect of the black-haired boy's life—Tsunade thought with mild amusement. But then smiled inwardly. It was true; friendship could do the weirdest of things to someone._

_"So, what you're suggesting is that we _lure_ everyone to accept him back, by making an event that would _show_ them that he's worth the village's trust again?"_

_Naruto merely grinned, the excitement present in every inch of his face, "That's _exactly_ what I'm saying! Do you think you could do it, baa-chan?"_

"_Well… I guess I could." Tsunade smirked at seeing Naruto's shout of victory, "After all, Konoha needs an excuse to be happy; we haven't had any celebrations since I was made Hokage."_

"_But, Naruto, there's also something that I'm thinking on doing…"_

_The boy paused in his animated dance, and looked at the blonde woman who was smirking at him from across her desk. _

"… _Let's organize a dance, yeah. But what's a dance without dates?"_

* * *

Almost two minutes after Naruto had finally finished his excited relate, Sasuke was still looking at him from his seat at the window-edge. His obsidian eyes slightly widened in surprise and his eyebrows shot up so high that they were hiding under his raven-bangs.

"Well? What do think? Aren't you happy, teme?!" Naruto chose to ask at last, noticing the boy's lack of response.

At being faced with such a _stupid_ question, Sasuke could do nothing but close his eyes; his left eyebrow starting to twitch with obvious annoyance, his fists clenching at his sides.

"Are you _stupid_, dobe? No, forget I asked that; _of course_ you're stupid, but just _how_ stupid you were I was never be able to imagine." Was Sasuke's annoyed answer, to which Naruto finally opened his blue eyes and stopped grinning, instead choosing to glare at his dark-haired friend.

"What the hell are you trying to say, Sasuke-teme?! I'm here trying to save your ass and you insult me!"

"I never asked you to save my ass. And if _this_ is your way of _saving_ me, then I'd rather die and be forsaken in this dammed place, dobe" The ex-avenger's tone was dead cold, and his glare was piercing Naruto's skull in a way that actually made the blonde slightly nervous.

"Don't say that, Sasuke." the blonde's eyes narrowed dangerously, but he didn't do anything else "This is the best way to do things, believe me."

"I don't care what the best way is, Naruto. I have never liked parties, and that's not something that's going to change anytime soon," Sasuke's eyes narrowed as well, "The last thing I need after all this damn time inside this hell of a place is a stupid dance, and much _less_ one with dates."

Naruto looked at him intently for a long moment, his narrowed eyes steadily placed upon Sasuke's glaring ones, "Well, you don't have an option in this, teme. If you don't want to put any effort from your part, then I'll have to do it for you."

"The party is a fact, and there's nothing you can do about it." He added, cutting Sasuke off before the boy could be able to throw any remarks. "Now I gotta' go, I have to announce it to Sakura-chan and the others; I'll need help in arranging the dance," were Naruto's words before the blonde made his way to the door, opening it and giving Sasuke one last glance from above his shoulder, before closing it behind him.

"I'll come back later, teme."

Faced with silence and with no blonde to glare at, Sasuke could do nothing but narrow his eyes and lower his head, content with glaring at the ground instead.

"Damned dobe."

* * *

The door opened for the second time that day, and Sasuke raised his eyes from the window to find none other than Tsunade closing the extremely heavy iron-door behind her with apparently little to no effort.

"I heard that you didn't like Naruto's idea too much." Was her stern salute, and Sasuke could do nothing but roll his eyes.

"So the dobe already went to you with the notice?" Tsunade merely snorted slightly at Sasuke's tired tone of voice.

"There's really nothing you can do to change it, kid. I already made my decision, and once I make it, there's no turning back." Said the woman, choosing to ignore Sasuke's previous comment and looking at him through amused eyes instead.

Sasuke sighed, rolling his eyes again. He hated it when she called him kid. Maybe that was the reason why she did it—no, in fact, that _was_ the reason. He just _knew_ she did it to annoy him. What a pain. "I don't want to go."

"Oh, but you _are_ going." Tsunade was taking an odd pleasure at seeing the welling frustration of the boy in front of her, and she wouldn't stop whenever she was having fun with something; too bad for Sasuke that this time his irritation was the source of her fun. "This dance is in your honor, and you can't just decide to not show up."

"I can." Sasuke challenged, meeting her eyes with his obsidian ones.

"No, you _can't._" But his eyes didn't have the experience that hers held, and his opinion and whishes didn't have the priority that hers did; he was fighting a lost battle, and he knew it, but he just couldn't bring himself to back off. "You _are_ going to that dance, and that's an _order_; you were accepted back as a ninja of Konoha against many people's better judgments, and you live under _my_ rules, and you respect _my_ wishes."

"And you going to this dance happens to be my main wish as of now" Her smirk only grew when she saw the glare that Sasuke was sending her way. "Understood?"

He took his precious time, probably cursing her and damning her to death inside that psychotic little mind of his that she still couldn't quite understand completely. But she already knew what his answer was going to be, so she waited for it with calm patience, taking sweet pleasure with each second Sasuke's mental torture prolonged.

"…Yeah." he murmured under his breath at last, not even his low-tone of voice being able to dissimulate the underlying anger behind his words.

"That's how I like it." Giving the angry and frustrated boy a wide grin, the blonde turned on her high-heels, "Point made, I'm going to go and take care of other things…"

"…I'm not going to take a date, though."

His new statement stopped the golden-eyed Hokage dead on her tracks, and painfully slowly, she turned towards him again finding the boy looking at her with his brow furrowed in clear stubbornness.

"Says who?"

"Me."

She chuckled under her breath, before bursting out into a laughing fit that had irony written all over it, and that made Sasuke furrow his brow even further, "Oh, kid, you never cease to amuse me." Brushing fake tears out of the corner of her eyes, she went on. More seriously this time, "I believe you don't properly understand what I just told you. You live under _my_ orders, and this dance is with dates. Having you assisting to it is just the less important part."

Sasuke blinked a couple of times, before narrowing his eyes, folding his arms across his chest in a stubborn pose that reminded the woman of Naruto himself, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Sasuke," Tsunade started, unfolding her arms and placing her hands on her hips, "That there's a reason of why I want you to take someone to that dance."

Lifting one slim eyebrow, the boy send her a questioning glance looking mildly interested in whatever it was she had to say.

Tsunade seemed to think it over, before choosing to explain herself; there was no point in hiding it from him, anyway. She was sure he would notice it, or maybe he knew it already. He wasn't as naïve and aloof as Naruto thought he was. He was no idiot. "I'm sure you already know that not much people want you here."

No reaction crossed Sasuke's features, but his eyebrow went down again. "You will not be treated nicely when you get out of here, and I'm actually doing you a favor at keeping you confined here. But I can't do that forever, and once you get out of here you're going to be screwed, boy."

His eyes narrowed, and he diverted them from hers, choosing instead to glare silently at the floor. "What has that to do with getting a date for the stupid dance?"

"Oh, it has _a lot_ to do with it, kid. You see, if you find someone to go with, you'll be able to show them more easily that you have changed; if it is really true that you have, then welcoming you back will be easier."

He stared thoughtfully at the ground for a while longer, before speaking, lowly, "What makes you think it'll be so easy?"

"Oh, I'm not thinking it'll be, I'm not fooling myself, kid. I know it'll be hard, but it certainly will ease things up a little, and that's always a plus for the position you're in." She calmly explained, once again admiring her left hand's red-polished nails.

Once again, his response didn't surprise her.

He was an intelligent boy, even if he made all those mistakes before. He was weighing his options, that much was obvious from his expression.

At last, he spoke, sighing before grunting with obvious annoyance.

"…Fine."

Once again, Tsunade turned around, slightly waving a hand from above her shoulder to say goodbye to the boy. "Alright then! Things settled, I'll be going!"

But just as she was opening the door, Sasuke's voice reached her ears again, making her stop.

"And how I'm supposed to do to find a date confined in this four walls?"

He hadn't even finished asking his question, when she was already walking again; her snickering response traveling towards him just as the door was closing behind her.

"That's your problem; the dance is in a week, you better have your date by that time."

Narrowing his eyes, and softly punching the wall at his side in frustration, he cursed loudly.

"Damned woman."

* * *

The door opened for the third time that day, several hours after the buxom woman left; which gave Sasuke enough time to think things over.

He was getting out of that room in three days, which meant that he would only have 3 days to get himself an appropriate date to go to that damn dance with. Something that, right then, seemed close to impossible.

Maybe before, when he used to be the most popular boy in all Konoha, it would have been as easy as breathing; he would only have to raise one finger and almost all the female population of the village would be there, lining up for him to make his choice.

But right now, after everything that happened, he would be lucky if he even got one of those girls to look his way again.

A fact that left him with only two options, which he didn't need too long to realize.

One of which was now standing in front of him, giving him a sweet and polite smile.

"Hi, Sasuke-kun! How have you been?!"

Asked the smiling girl, and Sasuke gave her a nod in appreciation of her worry.

"Fine, Sakura."

After thinking about it for a while, he concluded that asking her to accompany him wasn't such a crazy idea; after all, she had been his teammate for more than a couple of months, and she was one of the few people that he could still trust. Besides, she used to have a deep crush on him all those years ago, and she was more mature now as well.

Also, she was one of the few girls that he saw frequently those days, and that along all the other things that he already mentioned before would make her the most rational option.

So to hell with it.

"I'm glad," Sakura said, smiling still, before pulling one of the two chairs that were in the room closer, placing it in front of his seat by the window and then sitting herself comfortably. "You're going to get out of here really soon, Sasuke-kun, aren't you excited?"

So yeah, maybe he didn't have any romantic interest in her whatsoever, but she was his friend and he was sure that he could ask her a favor without her misunderstanding.

"…I guess." The girl seemed pleased with his answer, because she widened her smile and opened her mouth, probably going to dwell further onto the subject. But Sasuke cut her short, mind set to go straight to the point and get it over with once and for all.

"Have you already heard about the dance, Sakura?"

The pink-haired girl blinked with surprise for a moment, before nodding her head, changing her surprised expression for a weary smile, "Yeah… kind of. Tsunade-sama told me a couple of things about that subject; heh, it's an interesting idea, isn't it?"

"Not really." Sasuke answered honestly, before quickly stopping Sakura from speaking again, "Do you know it's with dates?"

Sakura looked surprised for a moment and then diverted her eyes, focusing them on the wall above his head, before nodding quietly. "Yeah... that's what I've heard."

Sasuke looked at her for a couple of seconds, before sighing tiredly, bracing himself to ask her the one question he never imagined himself asking anyone—much less her out of all people. "Do you want to go with me?"

He sees the way she roughly raises her head, and sees the way her eyes widen and lay upon his, and then he hurries himself to explain his proposition a little better; "Tsunade told me that I _have_ to get a date for the damn thing, and I thought you could do me that favor."

Her eyes slowly go back to their normal size once again, and Sasuke relaxes inwardly, glad to not have her misunderstanding his intentions. But then, to his surprise, she diverts her emerald-orbs once again, and a slight blush starts to color her pale cheeks.

"I... I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun… but I_ can't._"

This time, is he who wants to blink with surprise, but he refuses the sudden urge and instead finds himself arching one eyebrow at her in amusement.

She understands his unspoken question, and blushes even deeper.

"I… there's _someone_ I want to go with..." Is her quiet answer, and amusedly, Sasuke observes the way her lips curve up into a soft smile, and her eyes take in a dreamy look that he hadn't seen in her since her academy days.

And instead of feeling surprised, or frustrated at having one of his _two_ options blown up, he couldn't help but feel curiosity welling up in him at seeing his childhood friend wearing such a look.

"Who?" He asks even though he has a good idea, and there's amusement present in his voice. Sakura looks startled for a second, as if she was waking up for a dream and just realized for the first time that he had been there all along; she then blushes embarrassedly.

"I.. y-you'll see later! I gotta go, Sasuke-kun!" She said hurriedly, quickly getting up and placing her chair away, almost running over on her way to the door. When she finally reached it, she turned towards him, giving him one last smile while still looking just as flustered.

"Sorry for not staying longer Sasuke-kun! But I have to go to met Ino and the others! Bye!"

And without even waiting for his answer, she closed the door behind her, and Sasuke could hear her hurried footsteps getting fainter and fainter as she made her way down the hall.

Alone again, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. He had the slight feeling that he already knew who this person Sakura was talking about was…

And he allowed himself to chuckle amusedly upon thinking that possibility. But the chuckle and any mirth that could have welled up in him due to his private joke slowly died when the true consequences of what had just happened settled down on his brain.

He only had one option now.

…Damn, he hated having to depend on someone.

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**End Prologue**

I hope you guys liked it, and please don't forget to review!


	2. Meet Ino

Thanks for all the reviews, you guys were great. Hope you will enjoy this chapter and what's to come as well.

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**Chapter 1.**

_**Meet Ino.**_

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* * *

His second option went through the door two days after the incident with Sakura. Her platinum blonde hair swaying softly behind her, and her lips curving up into a grin at the sight of him while her right hand rose up into the air to wave.

"Hey, Sasuke!"

Once again, he was sitting at the window-edge. His eyes switch from the clear sky outside towards the blonde-teenage beauty that was now standing in front of him, her hands placed on her hips, her grin shinning as brightly as ever.

"…Ino." Her grin widens somewhat at his lame salute, way too accustomed to it to even care, and absentmindedly she raises one delicate hand to brush a lock of hair behind her ear.

"How have you been, huh? Bored as hell, I assume?"

He would have smirked at her mocking comment, but instead the undeniable truth behind it makes him sigh inwardly; God, how right she was. "You can't imagine."

Ino chuckles amusedly for a moment, before turning around to grab the exact same chair Sakura had choose before, unknowingly imitating the girl's actions and placing it in front of him as well. "Heh, lucky me." She jokes, her ever-present grin transforming into a smile that somehow managed to be just as bright, "Heh, you won't believe me, but this time I'm not here to interrogate you."

He merely raises one slim eyebrow, before turning in his seat, now placing his back against the window-glass and facing her instead, "Then why are you here for?"

He already knew the reason, but it was always more fun to irk her. As Sasuke predicted she would do, Ino rolled her eyes, giving him a derisive look before snorting, "What? Friends can't visit one another? Hell, you sure have missed out a couple of things while you were gone, dear."

This time is him who rolls his eyes, and gives her a deadpanned look that she answers by raising both her eyebrows before breaking her expression into a grin.

"Did you already hear about the dance?" Sasuke asks her, sighing in defeat; Ino's grin instantly widens at the mention of the party, and even before she nodded her head Sasuke already knew that she was already aware of everything there was to know about it.

"Of course I did! Who do you think is helping Naruto with the arrangements for the party, huh?" She exclaimed, excitement and pride obviously present in her voice.

Sasuke merely sighs again, folding his arms across his chest, "I don't know why I'm not surprised."

She sticks her tongue out at him in response, and at seeing the annoyed twitch of his eyebrows, smiles again, "Well what did you expect? It's a party! And who else better than me to plan it out? After all, I have the best taste out of all the people here!"

He rolls his eyes, before giving her an un-amused look, "Whatever."

"Actually, it really surprised me when Naruto told us about it; he usually never has such good ideas, you know." Ino commented casually, choosing to ignore his comment, waving one hand in front of her to back up her words.

"It _isn't_ a good idea, _that's_ why he had it." He dead-panned and Ino could do nothing but laugh.

"Heh, I see that you aren't too happy with having Konoha throwing a party in your name, huh?"

He gave her a bored look, "You're awfully sharp today."

"And you're just as charming as ever, sunshine." Ino rolled her eyes, and raised her blue orbs to the ceiling, as if praying the heavens who-knows-what. Sasuke, instead, chose that moment to look at her, replaying in his head exactly what it was that he had planned to say.

He remembered it perfectly, so he started his dialogue in the instant her eyes landed on his face again.

"So, Ino…"

She raised her eyebrows, "So, Sasuke…"

Rolling his eyes and snorting slightly, he went on, "I guess you already know that I need to get a date to the damn thing."

Her raised eyebrows acquired a mocking air in them, instead of the amusement they showed before. "I heard something of the sort, yeah."

"Then could go with me? You know I don't have a say in this, that damn woman made it clear that I _have_ to go with someone," He explained himself, choosing to make his point clear before she could get the wrong idea about it, like Sakura had done at first.

Ino took her sweet time looking surprised, before finally frowning slightly. "Sorry, Sasuke. But I already have a date, you should have asked sooner."

This time, he doesn't even try to resist blinking with surprise, and he finds himself speaking even before his mind could properly understand just what she had said.

"Who?"

"Sai." Ino states, the frown erasing from her face and appearing on Sasuke's instead.

"Sai?" Sasuke echoes, unbelieving.

"Yeah, Sai." She repeats, arching an eyebrow at his tone of voice.

Sasuke's frown darkens even further, and he finds out he couldn't control the words that were coming out of his mouth anymore. "And how exactly did you end up going with him?"

Her brow shot up further, and she gave him a look of pure disbelief, "Well, for starters, he asked!"

"And how did he manage to do that? Last I checked he didn't know what the word 'laugh' meant, much less anything about human interaction," the black-haired boy pointed out, venom dripping from his voice, as well as sarcasm.

Ino apparently decided to ignore that, because she merely rolled her eyes and gave him a pointed look, "You can't talk much about that subject, Sasuke. You aren't much better."

He sent a heated glare in her direction, "Don't compare me to that idiot."

"Aw, come on, Sasuke. Why are you so worked up about me going with Sai? He's not all that bad, you know?" rolling her eyes, she sighs. "Besides, he's pretty cute."

"Does it look like I care if he's good-looking or not?" His glare intensifies, but then he sighs and closes his eyes, once again folding his arms across his chest. "When did he ask you?"

"Two days ago." She answers at once, and then smiles softly, apparently not seeing the slight widen of Sasuke's now open obsidian-orbs, "It was kinda' cute, actually…"

* * *

"_SAKURA-CHAAAAN! INO-CHAN! SAI!"_

_The three teens, who were quietly talking in front of a near-empty store in one of the many streets of Konoha__, turn towards the source of the sudden noise._

_Sakura, who had been the one talking, blinks with surprise a couple of times__. "Naruto," She finally says, when the blonde comes to a stop in front of them._

_Raising his head and grinning widely, Naruto waved one hand, "Hey guys! I was looking everywhere for you!"_

"_Really? What's so important as to get you this worked up?" Ino said, raising one eyebrow and changing her weight to her other foot, placing her hand on her hip._

"_I have GREAT news!" The boy shouts excitedly, his grin widening even further._

"_I'm glad, Naruto-kun. But could you already tell us what this 'great news' are about?" asks the fourth member of the group, as polite as always, his signature weird smile present on his thin lips._

"_Jeez, can't you guys be a little more patient?" The blonde pouted, receiving a pointed look, courtesy of the two females in the group. "Anyways! I was speaking with Tsunade-baachan! And it suddenly occurred to me the idea of throwing Sasuke-teme a welcome party!"_

_His grin enlarged so much, that it was extended through all his handsome face; Ino and Sai looked at him for a couple of seconds, their eyebrows raised in disbelief, __but Sakura just sighed._

"_So, it was _your_ idea." She said, somewhat tiredly, changing her weight from one foot to the other and placing her hand on her hip, just like Ino did mere moments ago._

_Naruto blinked with surprise, "Eh? You already knew, Sakura-chan?!"_

_Sighing once again, the pink-haired girl waved one hand in front of her face carelessly, "Yeah, I was speaking with Tsunade-sama and she told me something about it; I was just about to tell Ino and Sai about it when you came."_

"_Really?! What a coincidence!" exclaimed the blonde happily, placing his hands in his hips in his confident fashion._

"_So wait a minute, you're telling me, that we have a party? Here? In _Konoha_? And it's not a festival?" Raising her eyebrows, Ino shot Naruto an unbelieving look._

"_Yeah! And that's not all!"_

"_What? There's _more_?" Naruto nodded excitedly at Ino's surprised question and Sakura sighed, knowing all too well what was coming next._

"_Yeah! The party is a DANCE, and it's with DATES!"_

_Ino's eyes widened with surprise, and the excitement started to make itself evident in her pretty features, "Really?! I can't believe it! It isn't like you to have such cool ideas!"_

_At her careless comment, Naruto frowned slightly, "Hey, what do you mean? __I _am_ cool…" He looked distressed for a moment longer, but then his grin once again broke through his face, and he turned towards his pink-haired teammate, "Sakura-chan! Since it is with dates and everything, would you like to come with me? It'll be fun!"_

_The girl blinks with surprise for a couple of moments, and then diverts her eyes from Naruto's blue ones, turning her head to the side trying to hide the blush that was coloring her cheeks, "…Yeah, yeah.. I guess it'd be fun" was her murmured answer, her blush increasing further with each word she spoke. Luckily for her, Naruto didn't notice any of this, way too busy with grinning happily and excitedly._

"_Great, Sakura-chan!"_

_Sai, who was looking at them with his smile still in place, turned slowly towards Ino, who was looking amusedly at Sakura. "Ino-san."_

_Getting out of her little reverie about her friend's weird behavior, the blonde turned towards the boy, blinking slightly, "Yeah?"_

_Sai looked at her for a moment longer, before closing his eyes and __show to her his trademark semi grin, "Since they are going together, would you like to come with me as well?"_

_Her sky-blue orbs widened with surprise, and a slight blush started to color her cheeks__. "Y-yeah...sure, Sai!"_

"_Great, Ino-san." His comment was oddly an imitation of Naruto's own, but with much less enthusiasm and happiness, but the other three teens smiled fondly anyway._

"_Great then! We already have dates! How cool is that, huh, Sai?"_

* * *

Sasuke's heated glare passes by unnoticed by the blonde teenager who was still smiling softly, her blue eyes lost somewhere in the setting behind the window at the boy's back, her mind focused in memories of events of what she obviously considered happy times.

"And how, pray tell, did you expect me to ask you sooner? You didn't come visit me until now, and there was no way I could have gotten out of here to go and see you." Sasuke pointed out bitterly, looking at her through narrowed obsidian eyes.

His comment seemed to make Ino come back to the real word and out of her little day-dream, and her eyes once again focused on Sasuke's handsome face, "Yeah well… I couldn't come any sooner, I was busy, you know… with the training and the flower-shop, I don't have too much time for myself anymore."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest, letting his stare land onto the wall at his side, his eyes glaring holes through it; really, it was funny seeing the always-cold and unfeeling ex-avenger behaving so much like a stubborn little child. "Whatever."

Looking at him through slightly amused, surprised eyes, the blonde spoke calmly, "Uh… well... What are you going to do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, who are you going to ask to go with you? You don't know too many people nowadays, and you're getting out of here… when? Tomorrow, right? And the dance is four days from now, how are you going to manage to find someone in time?" asked Ino thoughtfully, frowning slightly once she realized the trouble her friend would have at finding someone.

"Do you think I didn't think about that already?" Rolling his eyes, Sasuke scoffed, "I'll find a way…"

"Really? _When_?" She asked sarcastically, sending him a semi-glare for his tone of voice.

"I don't know yet, but I'll find something," Then, the black-haired boy turned towards her, and sent her one of his well-known glares, "You're not the only woman in the world."

Her blue eyes narrowed even further at his comment, and they glared at each other heatedly for a couple of long minutes in complete silence until the door behind them opened with a loud bang.

"Hey, Sasuke-teme!" The blonde who had just entered stopped when his eyes landed on the silent female figure sitting in front of Sasuke, and then his grin widened while he raised one hand to wave, even though her back was to him, "Ino-chan! I didn't know you were the visit that Sasuke had!"

Slowly, Ino broke the glare contest she was having with Sasuke, and turned around to look at the blonde from above her shoulder, "Yeah… I didn't have anything else better to do, sooo..."

She gave him a grin, and Naruto grinned back, while Sasuke, who had kept glaring at the back of the blonde's head, finally turned towards the other blonde present, "What are you doing here, dobe? Bringing more bad news?"

Naruto stopped grinning to send a glare in Sasuke's direction, a glare which Ino accompanied him in, "No, I'm not here to bring you more _great_ news, teme. I just dropped by to say 'hi'." The two boys glared at each other a while longer until Naruto finally broke their gaze and turned to Ino with a sheepish grin. "But sorry if I'm interrupting something! I can go and come back later, if you want!"

Sasuke's glare intensified, but Ino merely rolled her eyes. "Yeah _right_, what did it look like you were interrupting, anyway?" Sighing tiredly, the blonde stretched softly in her chair and then stood, brushing some creases from her purple skirt, "Well then! I was just about to leave, anyway,"

"Eh? Why, Ino-chan?" Asked the blue-eyed boy, starting thoughtfully at her.

"My shift at the flower-shop is about to start, and I promised forehead-girl I would join her in training after it, so I gotta get going." Smiling, Ino waved one hand at the blonde and started walking towards the door.

"Alright then! Bye, Ino-chan! Say 'hi' to Sakura-chan for me!"

"I will!" And then she stopped, having reached the door, and turned around to meet Sasuke's eyes briefly, "Good luck with finding your date." were her last words, spoken somewhat coldly.

Sasuke didn't say anything, and instead merely sat there, his eyes fixated on the back of the long-haired blonde who was slowly disappearing behind the iron door.

Naruto looked from Sasuke to Ino and back again with his brow frowned thoughtfully, before finally setting his eyes on the Uchiha when Ino was finally gone, "What was that?" he asked, confused, pointing his thumb towards the door.

Sasuke shook his head softly, and then folded his arms, once again changing his position and now placing his back against the wall instead of against the window, "Nothing."

The blonde looked at him oddly for a while longer, before walking towards him and taking the seat Ino had left in front of Sasuke, "So you haven't found anyone yet?"

"What do you think?"

Resisting the urge to laugh at Sasuke's annoyed tone _and_ glare, Naruto asked coolly, "Well, I don't know; you have your methods, don't you?"

The Uchiha merely rolled his eyes, "So you're going with Sakura, hn?"

"Yeah! Isn't that great? It was a nice surprise when she said yes" exclaimed Naruto instantly, with excitement and happiness obvious in his voice and features. "We're going to have so much fun. You, too, when you find your date!"

Once again, the other boy answered his friend's enthusiasm with a roll of his obsidian eyes. "Whatever you say."

But as the optimistic blonde grinned happily, Sasuke frowned thoughtfully, somewhat annoyed. A thought just crossing his mind...

The second name had been crossed from his two-name list.

He was screwed.

And, even thought he wouldn't have liked to admit it, he surely would need Ino's wished-luck to get himself out of this mess.

"…Damned dances, damned dates..."

"Huh? What was that?"

"…Nothing, dobe, nothing"

- -

* * *

**End of Chapter 1**

So Ino can't go with Sasuke? What will Sasuke do now?

And yup, NaruSaku is the other main pairing of the fic. These two are amazing together, and the interactions between them and SasuIno can be epic indeed.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts, so don't hesitate to review!


	3. Wise words, and a New Home

Sorry for such a late update, But I think I'm making it up to you guys, since this is kinda a long chapter.

And also, I decided I'd be updating the list of pairings of the fic every chapter, since they seem to be adding up with every single chapter I write.

So right now, this is the list:

**Pairings:** **SasuIno, NaruSaku. SaiIno. **Implied one-sided **ShikaIno**, Implied One-sided **ShikaTema**.

I hope no one will mind those pairings all that much. Also, this chapter here has quite a lot of interaction between Sasuke and a certain lazy ninja, but Shikamaru is an interesting character, and I used to like him a lot when I first wrote this chapter. Besides, I also think there's a good possibility that he may like Ino, soo.

And thank you to those how reviewed last chapter! You guys are awesome.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

_**Wise Words, and a New Home.**_

- -

* * *

"You can go now"

He looked behind him for a second, and then turned around, his hand instantly reaching up to shield his eyes from the blindingly bright sunlight. The cool breeze fleeting by him making the hairs in his arms rise up, and the sudden noise that he could hear coming from everywhere made his stomach squirm with uneasiness, but some weird kind of eagerness at the same time.

He could hear the door closing behind him, the ANBU guard who had escorted him outside leaving quietly. Slowly, he moved the hand away from his eyes and closed them instead, breathing in deeply.

It had been a long time since he had been outside, since he had been able to take a breath of fresh air; and there had been an even longer time since he had last stepped on Konoha's ground.

But he was finally free now. He was finally out of that hell, finally after two months of boredom and anxiety. He was finally free.

And he would have smiled, no matter how small and invisible that smile would have been, if he hadn't opened his obsidian eyes only to find a grinning blonde-haired boy standing a couple of meters away.

Swallowing his previous surprise and any traces of any kind of smile, Sasuke arched one slim eyebrow, before frowning slightly.

"What are you doing here?"

"What do you mean 'what I'm doing here'? I came to pick you up, of course!" Said boy explained, just as brightly as his grin, seemingly paying little to no attention to the other's boy's tone of voice and nonchalant expression. "Besides, I have to guide you to your home!"

Another eyebrow joined the one arched, "'_Guide'_ me? I'm not going to get lost, Naruto. I know pretty darn well where my house is."

"Don't be so sure of that!" Naruto grinned, and Sasuke wondered what the hell he meant by those words, and was just about to ask, but decided against it.

"Hn, whatever." Placing his hands inside his pockets, Sasuke started walking, passing by Naruto without even a glance in his direction.

The blonde frowned slightly, but hurried to catch up with the Uchiha, "Hey! You're not even going to give me a 'thank you'? What happened to your manners!"

"I never had them with anything involving you to start with, dobe." Was his cool answer, which was accompanied by a slight smirk when Naruto frowned.

"And about what did you _ever _have them, you bastard?" Sasuke's smirk dissipated from his lips, and instead appeared over Naruto's, who stopped looking at him and turned ahead.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly, after minutes of silence.

"What?"

"Aren't you excited to finally be out? I bet you're dying of relief inside that ice-block body of yours!" In response, Naruto merely got a grunt, and an annoyed furrow of brows. "See? I knew I was right."

Rolling his eyes, Sasuke heaved a sigh. He was already way too used to Naruto's loudness, but it still surprised him just how much Naruto became the same loud and cheerful boy he used to be all those years ago since he was able to bring him back. If Sasuke were someone else, someone more cheesy and sentimental, he would probably tell Naruto that he missed him, too; but Sasuke wasn't any of those things, and he hadn't even admitted that truth to himself yet. So he didn't even allow that thought to cross his mind.

"Oi! Sasuke-teme!"

Grunting with annoyance, this time Sasuke opened his obsidian eyes to send a ligh glare at his blonde-companion, "What?"

"Let's go inside! We haven't been here together since a long while, and I'm sure you want something that's actually tasty to eat." Naruto was smiling happily at him, but Sasuke didn't get his smile nor his words. Inside? Inside of where?

That's when the boy finally raised his eyes, looking past the boy's form, only to find that they were standing in front of what was none other than Ichiraku's Ramen Bar; the smell of the food that Naruto loved the most coming from inside the stand and blurring his senses for a moment. How long has it been since he last ate ramen? He had lost track of time. While he was with Orochimaru, they didn't really eat those kinds of things. In fact, Kabuto had developed pills that expanded in your stomach, and it was just as if you had eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner all at once. It was kind of dull, now that he thought about it, but back then it had seemed like a helpful solution.

Slowly, Sasuke's orbs once again lay upon Naruto's grinning form, and he couldn't help but sigh.

"…Alright."

"Cool! Then let's go! I'm STARVING!" Sighing tiredly behind the happy blonde, Sasuke walked after him, lowering his head and once again putting on his usual façade. At least, of course, until Naruto's voice broke the silence again.

"Guys! Sakura-chan! What are you guys doing in here?!" Raising his face in slight curiosity, Sasuke opened his eyes only to find Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura, and Sai sitting together, each with their own bowl of steaming ramen.

The four teens glanced up from their bowls, two pairs of eyes widening while the other two remained almost impassive.

Sakura was the first to speak.

"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! I didn't know you would be out so early!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed with surprise, her emerald orbs still opened a little more than they usually were.

Sasuke merely shrugged in response, but Naruto spoke for him, "Yeah! It was a good thing I saw Tsunade-baachan yesterday, 'cuz if I didn't I wouldn't have known, either!" He said, while he walked casually and took the empty seat besides Sakura.

Sasuke, though, was currently weighting his options; he could go and sit besides Naruto, who would probably not stop talking the whole while, or he could instead go and seat besides Shikamaru, who he hadn't seen in almost three years but whose expression gave away the fact that he hadn't changed at all.

It wasn't too hard for him to reach a conclusion.

And he was calmly walking to seat by Shikamaru, when a voice stopped him mid-step.

"I'm happy you're already out, Sasuke. You're finally part of Konoha again!" Were Ino's words, accompanied by a big, bright grin that only she and her blonde friend knew how to give.

Sasuke's eyes stayed glued at her smiling form for a while, and then he nodded in a silent appreciation of her words, before once again resuming his walk. But again, he was interrupted, this time by a voice that was in no way welcomed by him.

"I'm glad of your freedom too, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure you'll find your place here again."

Slowly, so much that it was almost painful, Sasuke turned towards Sai, who was giving him a polite smile that he probably hoped seemed friendly. The Uchiha's deep black orbs stayed focused on the boy's face for just moments, but the glare he sent in his direction was enough to make his point.

Sai was not of his liking, for reasons that said boy did not know or understand, but that Sasuke knew all too well. Reasons that had just increased a mere day ago.

So without more distractions this time, Sasuke was finally able to take his seat, his eyes closing almost immediately.

"Yo, Sasuke. Welcome back." Shikamaru murmured lazily when he saw that the boy was finally close enough as to not need to make the supreme effort of raising his voice. The Uchiha gave him a slight gaze, and then nodded.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Was Shikamaru's simple answer, after which the boy yawned loudly, earning himself a painful smack on the shoulder by his blonde teammate, who was sitting at his other side.

"Put a hand over your mouth when you do that! Jeez, how many times do I have to tell you the same thing until it settles in that big brain of yours?!" Ino complained loudly, looking at him through narrowed blue eyes.

"Damn, woman. Why do you have to be so troublesome?" The lazy genius complained, massaging the affected spot with one calloused hand.

"Because you don't have any manners whatsoever! That's why!"

"Maa... mendokuse."

"Calm down, Ino-san. It's normal for boys to not have manners, and Shikamaru-kun is just a boy after all."

"...Yeah, I know, but... oh well, guess you're right!" Ino gave in, giggling softly against her palm.

Neither she nor Sai noticed the frowns appearing over the faces of the two black-haired boys in the group.

"…Troublesome guy… Who asked for his opinion anyway?" Shikamaru murmured under his breath, just barely loud enough for Sasuke to catch it. Thankfully, Ino and the 'troublesome' guy were too busy chatting with one another to notice.

Sasuke snorted, smirking with pleasure, slightly content at having someone who supported his opinion about the guy, "You don't like Sai too much, I assume?"

Shikamaru merely shook his head slightly, boringly playing with the remaining noodles in his plate, "I have my reasons. You?"

"I have them as well."

Both boys shared amused looks and matching smirks, before each focused their attention once again in their own tasks, apparently thinking they had enough human interaction already.

The chatter of the people in the restaurant, and the slight pieces of Ino and Sai's conversation, together with Naruto and Sakura's, reached their ears, but neither of them paid any attention to it. In their own way, both of them found it too troublesome to acknowledge.

"Did you already find a date for the party?" Shikamaru asked suddenly, finally placing his almost empty plate away, apparently getting tired of playing with his food.

Sasuke, who was just starting to eat his own bowl which was sent to him by Naruto from the other side of the table, turned towards the lazy boy, arching one questioning eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

Shikamaru merely shrugged, resting his head a top of his propped up hands, "Curiosity. I heard that you needed to get someone, that's all."

Arching his eyebrow further, Sasuke returned his attention towards his bowl, suddenly not finding it so appealing anymore. How many people knew about Tsunade's command? If he didn't find someone, then he would for sure be the source of laughing of Konoha for a long while. That was, of course, if they cared enough about him to make fun of him. He didn't know which option he liked the best.

Shikamaru observed Sasuke's nonchalant shrug, and spoke again, turning to the side, "The dates are such a pain…"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, nodding, "...You tell me."

"So, who do you have in mind?"

"No one."

Shikamaru arched one eyebrow in slight amusement, "Really? I don't think that'll help you too much, ya know?"

Once again, Sasuke shrugged. His eyebrows knitting together thoughtfully and somewhat irately, his bowl now lying forgotten before him, in order for his mind to focus on other, more important matters than eating. "I don't have too much of a choice. My two options are off of the list."

"Two options? Ino and Sakura, I assume?" Sasuke gave him a slightly surprised look for a moment, but then he finally seemed to notice the fact that the boy he was talking with was a genius, and besides, two plus two weren't too hard to place together anyway. Rightly interpreting the boy's faces, Shikamaru yawned slightly, "Too bad they are already taken, huh?"

"…Yeah, I guess..." He didn't really want to dwell too much into that subject. Yeah, it was rotten luck that his both options were asked before he could have the chance, but he didn't really care, did he? After all, he only wanted to go with them to get rid of the problem Tsunade had placed upon his shoulders. It would be the same for him if he found someone else to go with.

From somewhere, a happy giggle that he identified as Ino's reached his ears, and he couldn't avoid the frown that graced his handsome features.

"You can't always have what you want." Shikamaru's thoughtful and somewhat bitter voice took him out of his little reverie, and he turned towards the pineapple hair-styled boy, only to find him with his eyes lost somewhere in the wall, his dark orbs glazed with an emotion that made his companion arch one eyebrow in surprise, "…Believe me, I know what I'm saying."

"You also wanted to go with someone who was already taken?" Sasuke asked, curiosity only mildly showing in his voice.

Shikamaru's brow furrowed slightly, before he closed his eyes, sighing loudly. "…Yeah, something like that"

His words surprised Sasuke; he never thought Shikamaru would be the kind of guy to actually have interest in that sort of thing, nor did he thought that he would admit it so openly. But what surprised the only Uchiha alive the most was the way the Nara's eyes directed towards Ino for just a second, before the boy closed them airily. Maybe Shikamaru thought he wouldn't notice, or maybe he didn't do it on his own accord, but the fact was that he sure as hell had noticed it; and right now, he couldn't help but feel somewhat understanding of the boy's obvious feelings, if not a little amused by them.

So Sai had screwed not only one, but two person's wishes by asking Ino? Heh, he know understood _pretty_ well Shikamaru's reasons for disliking the boy.

What an irony, they weren't too different from his own. Partly, at least.

"So, you don't have a date, either?" He said finally, choosing to ignore what he had just seen, rightly guessing that if he commented about it he would only make the other boy uncomfortable.

"Nah, I do." Shikamaru answered lazily, taking Sasuke by surprise.

"Who?"

"Temari."

"But you said that--"

"--And it's true. Temari merely asked me the favor of going with her, and since well… you know," He gave a careless and unenthusiastic shrug of his shoulders, "I agreed."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows with obvious amusement, "It surprises me just how popular with girls you seem to be lately, Nara."

The other boy ignored his comment, merely waving one hand in front of his face as a vague answer. Sasuke snorted slightly, and both boys fell onto a calm silence, which was far more fitting for both of their personalities.

But then, Shikamaru opened his eyes and broke the silence again, something that seemed awfully out of character from his part, speaking with a serious tone that he had had to use during his life more times than he would have liked to. "But what I meant, Uchiha, it's that things don't always go your way; you can't expect everything to fall into your open palm without you even moving one finger, because if you don't grasp it and close your fingers around it, then whatever it was that fell inside will slip from them and you'll never regain it again. Because that's the way life works. It's as troublesome as that."

They fell silent once again, Shikamaru's wise words hanging onto them like an ethereal ghost, sinking slowly in their brains and bringing out different meanings for each one of them.

Then, suddenly, Sasuke placed his shop sticks atop his almost untouched ramen, and stood up, catching the attention of the others.

"Hey! Bastard! Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm leaving."

"But, you almost didn't eat, Sasuke-kun." Sakura observed, looking at his bowl.

"I'm not hungry," The black-haired boy answered simply, ready to turn around and leave, pointedly ignoring Shikamaru's observant stare.

"You sure? The Department's food tastes like hell, it wouldn't do you any bad to eat something tastier." Now it was Ino who spoke, and Sasuke stopped slightly, while Ino opened her lips again ready to throw in another comment.

But Sai beat her to it.

"Yes, Sasuke-kun, Ino-san is right. And you're too thin, also."

Resisting the urge to kill him with a glare, Sasuke forgot any intention he had of stopping, and started walking again, his brow furrowed.

"Wait, Sasuke! Let me go with you!" Naruto quickly stood up from his seat at the counter, giving Sakura a small apologetic smile before jolting to chase after his friend.

Sasuke gave him a short look from above his shoulder, but didn't say anything, instead allowing the blonde catch up with him and fall in pace at his side.

"Maa, Sasuke-teme! Why couldn't you stay longer?! I couldn't even finish my second bowl!" Complained the younger of the two loudly, after some minutes.

"Why did you come then? I didn't ask you to leave with me," Sasuke didn't even open his eyes to glance in his direction, his hands stuck deep into his pockets.

At his side, Naruto pouted. "Yeah… but I _had_ to. Don't you remember that I have to take you to your home?"

Oh, _that_.

He almost forgot about Naruto's earlier confusing words. What the hell did he meant by it? This time he just couldn't stop himself from asking. "I don't need anyone to escort me there, Naruto. I'm not going to get lost, I already told you."

"And I already told you that you shouldn't be so sure of that!" the blonde exclaimed brightly, obviously excited about something that Sasuke knew nothing about.

Said boy sighed, "I _know_ where it is. I have lived in the Uchiha Compound all my life; I'm not going to just suddenly forget where it is."

"And who told you that that's where we're going?"

Opening his eyes to glance questioningly at the blonde boy, Sasuke frowned, "What do you mean?"

Naruto merely grinned in response, happily folding his arms behind his head, "Just trust me, Sasuke! And follow me!"

Oh, how badly Sasuke didn't like the sound of those words. "How can you ask me to follow you without knowing where the hell we're going?"

"Just trust me," Naruto said happily, without even turning back to look at his friend, and after some moments of glaring at the blonde's orange back without any effect, Sasuke gave up and sighed, making Naruto's grin enlarge further at the boy's unspoken agreement.

They walked in an amiable silence for quite a long time, getting further and further away from the main streets of Konoha. Sasuke hadn't really passed through that path that many times when he used to live in the leaf, but he knew just enough to at least be able to tell where he was.

A couple of steps ahead of him, Naruto walked quietly, his arms still folded behind his blonde head, his steps long and confident, with a happy jump that Sasuke was only able to notice because he has always been of the observant type. It was a wonder, really, how they could manage to be in silence, what with the loud and talkative nature of the blonde; but it was also a wonder how they could manage to talk with the quiet and silent nature of the Uchiha.

But, just like Tsunade said, friendship can really do the weirdest of things to people.

And maybe it was true that their friendship was somewhat stained, not quite like how it used to be all those years ago. Maybe they couldn't have the same incredible level of chemistry that they used to have even while bickering, and maybe the silences that prolonged between them weren't pleasant and full of unspoken words and feelings like before. But at least they were trying—each in their own way—to rebuild what they once had. The results of their tries show up slowly, but they are there, and that's what mattered.

Suddenly, the blonde stops, and turns towards his companion, his smile instantly widening into his trademark fox-grin.

"We're here!"

Sasuke merely blinked with surprise, not really getting the meaning of his words. They were 'here'? What the hell? Cocking his black-haired head slightly to the side, the boy adverted his eyes from Naruto's face, towards the building standing behind the boy's back, and his obsidian eyes enlarged with surprise and confusion.

He hadn't been there but a couple of times, maybe two or three at max; when the Hokage sent their team a new mission, and Kakashi, lazy as always, sent him to tell the blonde boy the details. But the number of times that he had been there, or the years that he had spent away, didn't change the fact that he knew exactly what that building was, and whose apartment was located inside.

What he didn't get, though, is just why Naruto had taken him to his house.

The questioning look that he shot the boy seemed enough, because Naruto enlarged his grin even further, and then exclaimed happily.

"Welcome home!"

Really, Sasuke didn't understand a thing.

"What do you mean 'welcome home?' Why are we here, Naruto?" He asked, brow furrowed thoughtfully, and hands slowly coming out of his pockets.

The blonde merely grinned at him, "Just that. Welcome home, Sasuke. This is your new home!"

Now, Sasuke understood even less than before. "What do you mean?"

"Tsunade-baachan wanted to keep you under observation, you know how paranoid old women are, and she wanted to have a couple of ANBU guarding you at the Uchiha compound," Naruto explained, making vague gestures with his hand, "So I suggested myself to keep an eye on you. And after some skillful convincement on my part, Tsunade agreed!"

Sasuke arched his eyebrows even further; he had a feeling of where this was heading to, "…And that means?"

"You're living with me from now on, teme!" The blonde blurted out happily, as if he was telling Sasuke something that the boy was dying to hear about.

Sasuke merely stayed silent for a couple of moments, apparently loosing his ability to speak, but when he finally found it again, his voice came out oddly choked, "What the hell?"

"Yeah! Aren't you excited, bastard?"

Apparently, Naruto wasn't paying any attention to Sasuke's expression.

"Who told you that I would like that? I don't give a damn about ANBUs guarding me, I want to go to _my_ house. And this is _not_ it, Naruto."

For an instant, the blonde seemed hurt by his words, but then any hurt evanished from his eyes and instead he merely frowned, "No, this _is_ it, Sasuke. This is my house, my _home_, and now it is yours, too,"

"You don't understand, Naruto. The Uchiha compound is _my_ home. There are all my memories, all my stuff," Sasuke's frown deepened, as he tried to explain in vain the absurdity of Naruto's idea.

But the blonde was as stubborn as he had always been, something that seemed like it wouldn't ever change. "What memories? The ones that made you that damn ice-block asshole during the academy? The ones that you tortured yourself with? You must be kidding." Sasuke sent him a heated glare, but Naruto ignored it completely. His words were true, and deep inside, they both knew that. "You were a bloody masochist, Sasuke, and you may still be one now, but forgive me if I'm not going to just step aside this time and watch you keep damaging yourself and those around you any further."

"You have a new chance, Sasuke. A new opportunity. And I'm not going to let you blow it up just 'cuz your stupid masochism and egotistical ass."

Both boys looked at each other for a long while; Sasuke glaring daggers at Naruto, while the blonde remained impassive, looking at him through stern blue eyes. The stare contest prolonged for some more moments, and when Naruto saw that Sasuke wasn't, or didn't have anything to say, he spoke again.

"And about your things, they are already inside. At least the stuff I considered most important, but not any clothes. They wouldn't fit you anyway." And with that, the blonde turned around, starting to approach the building, leaving Sasuke to silently glare at his back.

It was an odd thing, those times when Naruto got serious. But each time he did, he always made something inside Sasuke squirm uncomfortably. He didn't want to give that much thought to the boy's words, but the truth was that, deep inside, some part of him knew a good part of them were mostly true, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

Would it really hurt giving himself a chance? Giving _life_ a new chance?

When he came back, he agreed to start anew, or at least try to. But until now, what has he done? He has only been locked inside a cell, not having any human interaction besides the occasional visits and the ANBUs and interrogators. And who were those visits? Naruto, Sakura, Kakashi and Ino.

Through all his life, those four people had proven to be the only ones who stuck with him through thick and thin. They had been there for him, even when he shunned them out and pushed them aside at every given opportunity he had. But now, even after all those years, after all his mistakes, what did they do? They stayed there, giving him their forgiveness without not even a second thought.

Would it kill him to answer them in the same way?

He raised his narrowed eyes from the ground, and directed them towards Naruto's form, which was just entering the big, brown doors of the building.

Would it be _that_ bad?

Heaving in a sigh, Sasuke slowly started to walk, following the blonde's steps.

Living with Naruto would be hell, he knew. But he was willing to try.

Besides, it would be a lot more entertaining that living alone in the cemetery of his murdered family.

"…How annoying

Were his last words, before he, too, opened the brown wooden doors and got lost inside them.

- -

* * *

Alright, that's it for now. Hope the little pieces of Sasuke and Naruto interaction were enjoyable, since I love those two. I'm also kind of unsure about the Shikamaru+Sasuke part, but it seemed right when I wrote it so I left it like that.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!


	4. Unwanted Encounters

I have to apologize for the long time I took to upload this chapter. I promise I'll upload the next one soon enough, and there will be only 2 more left after that one. Still, this chapter is kinda long so I hope it'll hold your interest--maybe long enough so you can click on that cute box at the bottom of the page and leave me a review?

As always, a shot out to everyone who reviewed last chapter!

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_** Unwanted Encounters.**_

- -

* * *

He has been walking aimlessly through Konoha for the last two hours, and in that little time he found out something that didn't surprise him in the slightest.

Nothing had changed.

The streets were the same. The stores were the same—just a couple of new ones, and a couple of old ones that were now closed, but nothing too amazing. And above all, _people_ were the same.

They still were the same faces he was used to see all those years ago, wearing almost the same clothes and identical smiles. Walking towards the same places and waving to the same people.

Nothing had changed in them. It was incredible how Konoha could manage to be just like one of those towns from child's fairy tales; those that don't change, those which are perfect as they are and remain the same no matter what. Now that he thought about it carefully, it was probably one of the reasons of why he left the Leaf.

It had always made him sick.

The smiles that everyone always seemed to have for him, no matter what. The compliments and polite greetings that everyone threw his way in any opportunity they had always got to his nerves—why did they praise him? Sure he was good, but he wasn't nearly as good as Itachi. He didn't deserve those compliments, he didn't earn them.

They always used to suck up to him, always wanting to be on his good side.

And it all was more of a pain than a pleasure to him.

But ironically, he had only noticed one _single_ change through Konoha.

And it had been justthat.

He has been walking for the last _bloody two_ hours, and no one, not a _single_ person had stopped to say anything to him. No one had greeted him, no one had told him welcome back—or anything of the sort for that matter.

Everyone seemed to be ignoring him, as if he didn't exist. And those who looked at him gave him derisive looks or downright glares.

And now that he thought about it, he didn't know which one annoyed him the most; the way things used to be, or the way things were right now.

He sighs softly, and sits in one of the many benches that were placed through the streets.

If he thought about it intently for a moment, he would admit that he isn't really surprised by it, after all, he already expected it—they _had_ to react in some way or another. He betrayed them. It was just a logical thing that they now disliked him. But the truth was that he didn't really thought it would be _this_ bad; he had always been the golden child of Konoha, whether he liked it or not, and perhaps he deep down thought it wouldn't change.

But it turns out it did. And just when he last needed it.

He sighs again, tiredly.

Not having all the attention he used to have would make it all the more hard to find himself a date to the damn dance; in fact, it would make it almost impossible, since all the girls that used to love and worship the ground he walked on now hated him. With such a change in their attitude how in the world would he manage to get one of them to go with him?

That, and not counting the fact that he actually doesn't want to go with any of them, which only makes things harder and even more unpleasant for him.

Hell, was he doomed?

He raises his eyes from the ground, and they land onto a pair of girls that were walking past him. One of the girl's eyes turn towards him, and she blinks with surprise, a slight blush starting to color her cheeks while she gaped at him without any kind of shame whatsoever. He raises one slim eyebrow amusedly for a moment; maybe everything wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be?—But then the girl pokes her friend in the shoulder and the other girl turns towards him, blinking slightly before frowning deeply, sending him a heated glare before turning around to whisper something in the gaping-girl's ear, and then the girl's look changes to a glare as well, before they both turn around and leave like nothing ever happened.

He looks at their back for a long moment, barely taken aback, before sighing again.

Scratch that; things would be even _harder_ than he thought.

He was just going to get up and leave to his house—or rather _Naruto's_ since he still refused to call it his own—when a cheery voice woke him up from his little day-mare.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun! How are you?"

The black-haired boy raised his face only to find himself looking at a green-eyed girl, with a gentle smile.

"Sakura" Is his simple greeting, and she smiles, before taking a seat at his side, deliberately ignoring his lack of answer to her previous question.

"What are you doing here this early, Sasuke-kun?"

He shrugs nonchalantly, and leans back on the bench, relaxing his muscles from the position they were previously in, "Nothing. Just walking for a while"

Sakura smiles amusedly for a moment, adjusting her position so she could take a better look at him, "It has been a long while since the last time you were here, huh?" Her green orbs take in a slightly melancholic look in them, but both of them choose to ignore that, "What do you think? Isn't Konoha prettier than ever?"

He rolls his eyes, and shrugs again, "It looks exactly the same"

Now she is the one who rolls her eyes, "It isn't _exactly_ the same, Sasuke-kun. A lot of things have changed; you just haven't seen them yet"

"Hn, whatever"

Sakura represses a sigh, and instead goes on talking, "How's living with Naruto? He told me you were going to move in with him from now on"

"That wasn't my choice, that deadlast spoke with Tsunade." A noticeable frown appears on Sasuke's handsome looks, and Sakura giggles.

"Yeah, but he did it for you own good, Sasuke-kun. It's way better to live with Naruto than to have tons of ANBU watching your every move, you wouldn't have any kind of privacy"

"And who says that I'm going to have it with Naruto?" He sends her a deadpanned look, and Sakura now has to repress her giggles with her hand.

"Oh come on, Sasuke-kun. It isn't going to be so bad, you'll see. You just have to give Naruto a chance" She says, giving him a sincere smile, and Sasuke arches one eyebrow in amusement.

"Juts like you did?" With pleasure, Sasuke observes the way Sakura's green eyes enlarge with surprise and how a pale blush starts to color her cheeks, "No thanks. He's not my type, I'm not into guys"

Sakura would have felt pleasantly surprised, and amazed for the fact that Sasuke had just actually _joked_—and with her out of all people. She really would have, but the fact that _she_ was the object of the joke took away any amusement it could have had. "I… don't know what you're talking about, Sasuke-kun"

_Oh but_ _she did_, was the thought that crossed both their minds.

Knowing that, Sasuke smirked. "I'm not dumb, Sakura. So Naruto is the guy with who you wanted to go with to the dance, huh?"

It was more of a statement than a question, so Sakura gulped quietly, and inwardly accepted that she had been busted. _Damn, and it all thanks to her big mouth!—_Really, Ino should call her mouth-girl instead of Forehead—Sighing, the pink-haired girl lowered her eyes to her palms, which were folded at her legs, a deep blush coloring her otherwise pale cheeks. ".. yeah. But don't tell him that 'kay? I don't want it to get to his head"

Sasuke merely sneered, his smirk perfectly in place, "Don't worry, Sakura. I'm the one who's living with him, and it's damn hard to stand him already"

Sakura's blush deepened slightly, but she raised her face and gave him a small smile of thankfulness, which Sasuke responded with enlarging his smirk, and snorting slightly.

"And what about you Sasuke-kun?. Do you have someone in mind for the dance?"

The slight amusement and ease that Sasuke was feeling evaporated when the subject of the dance was brought up by his pink-haired friend; instantly, his smirk disappeared, being instead replaced by a deep frown and a scowl. "I don't want to know anything about that damn thing" he said stubbornly, crossing his arms across his chest.

Sakura blinked slightly, but then smiled, raising one pink eyebrow amusedly at her former teammate, "But you _have_ to, Sasuke-kun. You know what Tsunade-sama said to you, it's your obligation to find someone"

"I know that" Frowning, the last of the mighty Uchiha Clan closed his eyes thoughtfully. Sakura wasn't telling him anything that he didn't know. He already had all those things very clear in his mind, just like he had clear what would be the consequences if he didn't find someone; but what the girl besides him didn't want to see was the fact that he didn't have someone yet not because he didn't _want_ to—well, alright, that influenced things a little—but rather because he _couldn't_.

"Then it's better if you start looking for someone, Sasuke-kun. I'm sure there are more than a couple of girls that would like to go with you" She said, sending him a bright smile that did nothing to alleviate his troubled mind.

"Hn" Was the only answer he gave her. He honestly didn't think her statement was true, if anything, the behavior of the two girls of before made that pretty clear. But he wasn't about to let Sakura know that. He wouldn't fall as low as to claim he _himself_ that he was unwanted by the female population of Konoha. Even if that was the truth.

Sakura smiled at him for a couple of moments longer, and when she saw that he wasn't about to say or do anything any time soon, the girl got up. The black-haired boy opened his eyes to glance at her, but she merely smiled. "I have to go, Sasuke-kun. I have a training session with Tsunade-sama and Ino, and I am going to be late if I don't hurry up," she explained, while she smothered her pink skirt.

"See you later!" Were the last words the girl said to him, while she started to walk towards the Hokage Monument, waving at him all the way.

Sasuke merely stared at her retreating for a couple of seconds, before letting a sigh escape his lips. So she had training with Ino, huh?

An image of the blonde beauty appeared on his mind, along with pieces of yesterday's conversation with Shikamaru, but he pushed them away forcefully, slowly getting up from the bench.

He needed something to distract himself for a while and to take his mind off from such annoying matters, and the solution had just made itself evident.

After all, it had been a pretty long time since the last time he trained in Konoha.

And with that thought in mind, the Uchiha started to make his way towards the Training grounds of the Leaf.

* * *

As he had expected, the training grounds were another thing in the Village that hadn't changed at all.

There were a couple of young boys and girls training, some of them sparring with one another; but for the most part, the grounds were empty.

Something that Sasuke appreciated.

But it seemed like everything and anything Sasuke appreciated didn't last for too long.

He had been practicing some mild taijutsu, using a tree as the target; and was just about to take a kunai out of his holder to work on his aim—which was already perfect as it was—when a male, and sickening polite voice interrupted his work.

"Good Morning, Sasuke-kun"

The boy whose name had just been called resisted the urge to growl in annoyance. Out of all people, out of _all_ the possible persons that could have come to ruin his little moment of peace, it had to be just _him_.

It wasn't a good day for Sasuke, that was for sure.

Not even bothering to glance above his shoulder at the smiling boy, Sasuke kept on punching the tree, this time with a little more force than what was truly necessary.

"Do you need any help? I can spar with you if you would like" The black-haired boy offered politely, apparently choosing to ignore Sasuke's silence.

For an instant, the boy weighted his options—he could train with him, inflict him _more_ than a little damage, and drain his frustrations a little on the actual source of _many_ of them—or he could as well keep on kicking a mere tree, a tree which had done nothing to him.

He thought about it for a second, and despite how tempting the first option was, he kept on kicking the tree.

"No" Was his simple answer; he refused to accept any kind of favors from _that_ guy.

"Are you sure? Training alone has never been as good as sparring with someone else" Sai tried again, just as politely as the first time.

"I said **No**" Sasuke said again, frowning deeply at the other's insistence.

"Alright then, as you wish" And with that, to his ever growing horror and annoyance, Sai took a seat at a fallen tree-branch at a couple of feet away from him.

Now growling under his breath, Sasuke stopped punching the tree all together. "What are you _doing_?"

"I? I'm just sitting. I thought it would be far more comfortable to be sitting than to stay standing" Sai explained calmly, that weird smile that unnerved Sasuke so much still perfectly in place.

"I _know_ what you are doing. What I don't get it's _why_ are you doing it, don't you have something else to do than to annoy me?" Sasuke all but growled, sending the boy a glare.

But Sai remained unaffected by it, and instead sent the boy his trademark smile, "Sadly, I don't. Naruto-kun must be asleep right now, and Sakura-san is training with Tsunade-sama" he stopped for a second, before continuing, "And I don't have to meet with Ino-san until four"

Sasuke's brow furrowed darkly, and a new kick was sent towards the poor branch, which was starting to crack under the pressure, "Then find someone else to bother, Sai"

"I don't know anyone else" Sai said unfazed by the rudeness present on Sasuke's request, "I don't really have any friends besides Naruto-kun and Sakura-san, and Ino-san is busy right now"

Sasuke was just about to turn around towards him to rudely spat out at the clueless boy that he wasn't his friend either, so he should get up his _ass_ and go _somewhere_ else—when the boy started talking again.

"Ino-san said that I should meet her at four, so she could teach me how to dance. I have never tried to, so she offered to teach me; Miss beautiful is a really helpful girl" The boy said, smiling sincerely.

Something inside Sasuke snapped at that seemingly innocent comment, and the sole survivor of the Uchiha Clan swung on his heels, arching both of his eyebrows at the other shinobi, who merely smiled in return. "Awfully familiar, aren't we?" he asked, obvious sarcasm in his voice.

"Oh, you mean my nickname for Ino-san? I just thought it suited her. And I read in a book that nicknames were the base of good relationships with other people, and she always seemed to like my nickname for her, so I guess I made the right choice" explained the boy, with that annoyingly polite and somewhat fake smile of his.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his insides itching to kick the annoying boy senseless. "Why are you telling me all this?" He demanded with suspicion, glaring.

"Hn? I just thought it would interest you. I heard Ino-san telling Sakura-san that you had asked her to go to the dance with you, so I thought you would care" He said simply, shrugging.

"Well, you are wrong. I _don't_" Sasuke claimed, before turning around, ready to start training again.

But just like before, Sai's voice stopped him.

"I'm glad that I am able to go with Ino-san to the dance" he commented, out of the blue, and Sasuke growled under his breath again, "If I hadn't asked her in that moment, she could have agreed to someone else's request."

Sasuke clenched his feet, resting his head against the tree branch; if he spoke again—if he even dared to _mention_ the blonde kunoichi again, he would end up loosing his temper. And if he loosed his temper, he wouldn't be able to restrain himself. And if that happened, Sai would be dead. Oh, so _very_ dead.

"I have to insist. Miss beautiful is the perfect nickname for Ino-san, don't you agree?"

_That_ did it.

Turning around, the dark-haired boy shot the other a heated killing-glare, sharingan already flashing in his obsidian eyes, "Why would I know?" he spat out darkly.

Still calmly sitting in his branch, and apparently unfazed by Sasuke's angry demeanor, Sai raised both of his eyebrows, his eyes closed, "Are you _sure_ you _don't_ know?"

And that mere question sent Sasuke's blood boiling.

There was _something—_something on the tone of voice that the weird boy used, _something_ that he didn't like. It was as if the boy was amused by _something_, something that he didn't quite know, but that he should be aware of.

And that fact made him even angrier at the new member of Team 7.

"Just _what_ are you implying?" Sasuke demanded venomously under his breath, his eyes dangerously narrowed.

Sai merely shrugged, apparently still unfazed, or perhaps just clueless, "As I said before, I just thought it would interest you"

"And as _I_ said before; it _doesn't_. So stop talking about things that I don't care to hear about"

Sai shrugged again, this time adverting his eyes and scratching his cheek. He looked apologetic, and even somewhat embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun. I didn't mean to upset you. I merely wanted to establish a topic of conversation that we both would be comfortable with"

"And you choose Ino?" Sasuke asked, his glare not as menacing as it was two minutes ago, "You were awfully wrong"

"I repeat, I thought it would be appropiate"

"And _I_ repeat, don't you have _anything_ else to do than to _bother_ me?"

"And I repeat, I don't know anyone else"

"And I repeat, _fuck off_" Sasuke spat out, successfully ending their little chain, and turning around, starting to walk towards the main streets of Konoha, ready and more than a little eager to get away from the other boy.

But to his horror and further annoyance, it didn't take him long to hear footsteps behind him.

God! _How much of a pain could someone be?!_

"You didn't say that before, so you aren't repeating anything" Sai pointed out calmly once he caught up with him, still smiling softly.

Sasuke turned to him, glare in place. "Just _where_ do you think you are you going?"

"I don't have anything better to do, so I thought I could accompany you for a little while" Sai shrugged, and offered him a polite smile.

"I don't want you to accompany me anywhere" He was starting to get tired of the boy, and a tired Sasuke was not a nice one to be around.

You could ask Naruto if you didn't believe him.

Sai looked stared thoughtfully at the ground, before raising his face, smile in place again. "I just.. want to be friends with you, Sasuke-kun. Forgive me if I bother you, but I just want you to give me a chance" Said the boy honestly, and Sasuke frowned.

He was just about to turn around to tell him _pretty_ clearly that he didn't have _any_ intentions of becoming friends with him, and that he better just _fuck_ the _hell_ off if he wanted to keep himself in one piece—but he turned around only to find Sai tripping with a rock.

Yes, tripping with a _rock_.

What happened after was even more bizarre.

Things seemed to happen painfully slowly for Sasuke, as if in slow motion. He could see the surprise in the boy's features, and he also was able to realize that the boy would not be able of regaining his balance in time—_pretty pathetic for a shinobi,_ if you asked him.

And he found himself blinking with slight surprise, and before any coherent thought could cross his mind, he saw his own hand shoot forwards and brusquely grasp Sai's elbow, jerking him backwards and steadying him.

Time came to a halt as both boys understood what had just happened, both with eyes wide open with surprise, and frozen in the positions they were currently in.

But then Sasuke got a hold of himself, and started walking again, choosing to not paid any kind of attention to Sai or to what he had just done. What would have Shikamaru said if he had seen him? He had just thrown away the perfect chance of seeing Sai laying flat on his face, and maybe loosing a couple of teeth. But no, he just _had_ to help him, hadn't him?

Damn him and his stupid reflexes.

Behind him, he could hear Sai who had stayed behind, running to catch up with him. And when he did, the boy instantly turned towards him.

"You saved me, Sasuke-kun" He exclaimed, and Sasuke would have laughed at the irony of the situation and the ridiculousness of that statement if he hadn't been feeling the beginnings of what promised to be a killing headache invading his brain—and just how melodramatic could someone be, anyway? Saving his life just because he didn't let him fall on the ground? Sai had without doubt been reading way too much books lately.

"I didn't do anything" He growled, raising one hand to massage his temple.

"Yes you did. You did me a favor, so I have to do one for you too"

Stopping his ministrations, Sasuke blinked slightly, before groaning, "You don't have to do anything. Just _go_"

"I'm being serious, Sasuke-kun. I read that if someone did a favor to you then you should return it. I'm willing to do anything that you ask me, and we can consider this the start of our friendship"

God, was he deaf?

Sasuke opened his lips, ready to tell him to just jump off a cliff and leave him _the hell_ alone, when a sudden thought crossed his mind, causing his obsidian eyes to open wide with surprise and realization.

…_Could it..?_

And without him even realizing it, he stopped walking.

"Did you think about anything yet?" Sai asked, stopping as well a couple of feet ahead of him.

Slowly, Sasuke raised his head, landing his deep stare upon Sai's closed eyes. "…Yeah, I think I did"

Sai smiled, sincerely this time. "Good then. As long as it doesn't have anything to do with suicide or something"

The comment actually made a slight smile appear on Sasuke's lips, a smile that slowly transformed itself into a smirk as his idea started to slowly take form inside his head.

"Heh, don't worry, Sai. Is something _much_ easier than that…"

- -

* * *

I'm sure most of you already know what's on Sasuke's head, and yes things are going to start moving. I hope Sai wasn't too OOC; his odd fixation with talking about Ino is because he's an observant guy--he's an artist after all--and he noticed something quite odd with Sasuke and "miss lovely". So he thought that Ino would be a topic where they both could be comfortable in and that would be able to hold Sasuke's interest.

I do believe Sai would be really interested in being Sasuke's friend, because after all, Sasuke is a special person for both Naruto and Sakura.

Hope you guys liked the chapter! And please don't hesitate to review!


	5. Hidden Truths, Hidden feelings

Thanks for all the reviews, you guys were great

New chapter is up, and I'm too lazy to write some notes aside from thanking everyone for your reviews! You guys are the ones who encourage me to keep going with this, so thank you!

And beware of some InoSai-ness ahead.

* * *

**Chapter 5.**

**_Hidden Truths, Hidden Feelings_**

- -

* * *

A sigh escaped through his lips, as he made his way through the principal streets of Konoha, a goal already clearly settled on his mind.

"…_What in the world does that woman want now?"_

He had been relaxing—well, sort of; you could never get too relaxed with Naruto's loud presence around you—something that he hadn't had any opportunity to do since the longest of times, when suddenly, an ANBU had popped right in front of him.

"Tsunade-sama requests you to come to her office. **Now**"

And even before he could have enough time to open his mouth to demand a reason, the man was already gone; leaving him to curse him, the blonde-Hokage, and the _world_, for being such annoying matters.

Raising his raven-haired head slightly, Sasuke sulked again, frowning as the Hokage monument finally appeared on his view.

And along with the Hokage monument, came a blonde-haired girl who was making her way towards him, obviously coming from the place he was heading towards.

Their eyes met, while both of them kept on walking, getting closer to each other; and her blue eyes widened up with slight surprise, before closing once again, her lips instantly turning into a bright grin, while one of her hands raised to wave at him.

But no words were spoken until they were right in front of each other.

"Hey ya, Sasuke!" Ino started finally, grin still in place, her hand lowering to join her companion, taking her place at the other side of her hip.

"Hn, Ino" Was Sasuke's lame answer, his eyes fixated on the girl, but his expression remaining as cool and stoic as ever, just like his attitude.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you bee asleep?"

"Hn.. That woman called me"

"_That woman_?" Ino inquired, arching one slim eyebrow, and changing her weight from one foot to the other, "Do you mean Tsunade-sama?"

"Yeah.. Whom else?" Frowning, Sasuke folded his arms across his chest, and turned to the side; "No one likes to annoy me as much as her"

The boy's comment released a giggle from Ino's lips, and the blonde finally erupted into a fist of cheery-laughing, "Ah, come on, Sasuke! Don't be such a cry-baby, you're acting like a little kid!"

Sasuke's brow furrowed even further, and he turned towards her once again, sending her a semi-glare that did nothing to stop her giggling-fit, "I'm _not_ a cry-baby. …And I'm not acting like a child, either"

"Heh, whatever you say, Sasuke; Whatever you say" Grinning, Ino once again placed her hands on her hips, finally calming down and stopping laughing, much to Sasuke's relief.

"…Hn" Was the boy's only response, as he turned around again refusing to look at Ino, doing nothing but confirm the girl's accusations.

"So, did you meet with Sai yesterday?" Sasuke asked suddenly, much to Ino's and his own surprise; but before he could damn himself to hell for blurting that question out-loud, Ino had already answered him.

"..Yeah, kinda" A weird smile possessed the girl's lips, and it was enough to make Sasuke finally turn towards her, and forget all about the 'cold treatment' that he would have liked to give her, "Which reminds me, I have to ask you something, Sasuke…"

Now uncrossing his arms, Sasuke arched both eyebrows, glancing questioningly at her; Ino seemed nervous, _embarrassed_ even, and he didn't have a clue of why in the world she was acting that way. "Go ahead"

Ino seemed to think things over for a couple of seconds; her slim eyebrows furrowing slightly for an instant, before relaxing once again, as she sighed; "Do you remember when you asked me to go with the dance with you..?"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, as Ino's words started to sink in his brain.

_..Could it be? _

"Yeah, I remember"

"Well… I was wondering.. Uhm.. It's the offer still standing?"

The blonde finished at last, adverting her eyes, a pale blush coloring her cheeks, her hands joining and grasping each other nervously in front of her skirt.

Now, saying that Sasuke was amused by the girl's demeanor was an understatement; Ino didn't usually act that way in front of anyone, and much less in front of him. Since he came back, the girl had been treating him as if he didn't mean anything to her besides a mere friend; no glomps, no hugs, no flirtatious-smiles, and no rest of her fangirl-antics.

And though at first he found it quite amusing, and slightly pleasing; he had to admit that he was starting to miss the old attentions that the girl used to give him.

He didn't quite know when he started to miss them though, and he wasn't about to dwell on the subject, either.

So, smirking and swallowing his surprise, Sasuke cocked his head to the side, making his raven-bangs fall onto his eyes; which him a look of mischief that made Ino blush even deeper. "So, what happened with Sai? Weren't you going to go with him?"

Ah, but he knew _pretty_ well what happened with Sai…

…But he wasn't about to tell her that.

Adverting her eyes once again, Ino sighed softly, almost sadly, "Yeah but…" something flickered on those blue eyes of her, something odd that Sasuke couldn't quite place; but it was gone as soon as it came, and she kept talking, a painfully careless-tone on her voice, "He told me that he had a mission, so…"

"And _now_ you want to come with me?" Deciding to ignore Ino's weird change of moods, Sasuke went on, playing the part of the hard to get.

Heh, he wasn't about to look desperate in front of Ino.

Even when—_deep down_—he _was_.

"Ah come on, Sasuke.. It wasn't that I didn't _want_ to go with you, it's just that I already had someone to go with. You didn't expect me to ditch him just because you finally decided to look my way, did you?" Ino finally turned towards him, and gave him quite the odd look, which had him widening his eyes with slight surprise; he didn't know whether to take her words seriously, or to just think that she was trying to mess with him, _someway_.

But when the girl sighedand scratched her head airily, Sasuke just _knew_ that she was being serious, even though she was probably hoping he would think she was only joking.

"Look, Sasuke.. It's alright, 'kay? I'll find someone else to go with… Maybe I'll ask Neji-san and--"

"You don't need to" Sasuke cut her, quickly; his voice and his expression were both serious, but there was _something_ in his eyes that neither him or Ino could fully grasp. "I'll go with you"

Blinking, Ino raised her eyebrows with surprise, somewhat stunned by the boy's sudden change of attitude; "Really?"

"Yeah, I was the one who asked you first, wasn't I? What would be the point of not going with you now" Sasuke explained carelessly, doing a great job in hiding any kind of emotion or thought that was going through his mind.

"Alright then!" Ino said finally, grinning brightly at him, "Then it's settled! Pick me up at Sakura's house tomorrow at seven!"

"Where are you going?" Asked Sasuke perplexed, as the girl walked by him still grinning as brightly as ever.

"I gotta go! My shift at the Flower shop is about to start! And besides," Glancing at him over her shoulder, the girl sent a cocky grin his way, "You still have to meet with Tsunade-sama, don't you?"

And with those simple words, the girl was gone, her back getting lost in the distance, Sasuke's eyes not leaving her form until it was completely out of view.

He wondered if he had done the right thing by talking with Sai…

Things were starting to get out of hand now; he didn't expect Ino to say those words to him, nor did he expect himself to feel that way about them… But he couldn't help it. Something, _just…_

…_Wait a second. _

Since when does Uchiha Sasuke have second thoughts about _anything_?

He was merely protecting his interests, and it turned out that his interests were Ino's as well, so that was a plus. Things had turned pretty well at the end, everything going according to his plan, and even better.

So why in the world was he regretting it?

Cursing under his breath, Sasuke started walking again, heaving in a sigh.

Ino was right, he still had to meet that annoying woman.

He would think things over later.

* * *

Her eyes were lost in the magazine that she had been looking at absently since the last couple of hours or so, staring at every word that was carefully written in there, but not really reading.

Her mind was apparently collapsing, for some reason or another that she couldn't quite understand—or didn't want to acknowledge, perhaps.

Either way, that was the reason of why she didn't notice the door of the flower-shop open softly, the bells ringing rhythmically; almost inaudible steps getting closer and closer to her.

Until finally, an amiable voice broke the silence in which she had submerged herself into since the moment she arrived.

"Good morning, Miss Beautiful"

Her eyes widened slightly with surprise, her hand instantly reaching up to rearrange a lock of golden hair behind her ear before she stopped herself. She didn't need to look up to see who it was the guy who was now in front of her, just like she didn't need to take a deep intake of breath to get a hold of herself like she always used to.

She had been waiting and dreading this moment since the instant she left Tsunade's office that morning, and now that he was the one who brought it to her, there was no turning back.

"Don't call me that, Sai"

Was her curt answer to his affectionate greeting; her brow deeply frowned, her eyes hard and severe, voice stern.

And Sai blinked with surprise for a couple of moments, stopping dead in his tracks, coming to a halt just a couple of steps away from having her at arm-length. "I beg you pardon, Ino-san, but I don't quite understand what you are--"

"—Don't '_Ino-san'_ me, Sai. And don't try to play the fool, either" Ino scowled, closing her magazine with a curt flip of her right hand, while the other formed a fist above the counter she was sitting behind, "You know pretty _damn _well what I mean" she added, her eyes narrowing.

"I… am afraid that I don't, Ino-sa—_Ino_. But.. maybe if you explained yourself I would--" Sai started, but Ino cut him short again.

"If I explained _myself_? No, Sai. I think it's the other way around" Narrowing her eyes even further, Ino made a pause, swallowing the impeding need of just sending the boy right to where he came from, or just start screaming at him. But she calmed herself down; she wouldn't lower herself to such things—she had already lowered herself enough. "You are the one who has some explaining to do"

"Me?" Sai asked, blinking, again, "But Ino-san.. I don't know--"

"You told me that you had a mission, didn't you?" Deciding that she had had enough of Sai playing the clueless, innocent boy, Ino went straight to the point. Her voice getting sharper and shaper with each word she spoke, "You said that Tsunade-sama had _assigned_ you an S-class mission that you just _couldn't_ refuse.. And you told me that for that reason, you wouldn't be able to go with me, _right_?"

Sai hurried himself to send a perplexed nod in her direction, his eyes still widened with surprise, "Yes.. That's what--"

Not waiting for the boy to explain himself, Ino went ahead, "I went to speak with Tsunade-sama this morning, Sai" The boy's eyes seemed to enlarge even further, as realization slowly fell upon him, and the face of utter surprise and _dismay_ that the boy made, made Ino even angrier; and _sadder_. "I went to talk to her.. to _see_ if she could change your mission, give it to someone else; And you know what she told me?"

Ino didn't wait for him to say anything; she already knew he wouldn't.

"She told me that _you_ were the one who had requested the mission. She didn't order you to go anywhere, you _yourself_ asked to go on a mission"

Her words meet silence, a silence that engulfed the flower-shop like a deathly veil, and which made a deep sorrow posses Ino's soul.

"_Get out" _

Were her simple words as she got up from her seat, turning her back on him and ready to walk to the back-room of the store; anything to get away from the presence of that guy.

"Ino-san--"

"—I said, _get out_, Sai"

"--I'm sorry"

His words made her stop, just as her hand was about to turn the door-knob; her eyes enlarging slightly, before narrowing, "What for? You shouldn't be sorry, Sai. You were the one who wanted to get away from me. Congrats, you did it. What _the hell_ are you sorry for now?"

Sai lowered his eyes to the floor, unable of staring at the girl in front of him. The emotions he was feeling reminded him of the first times he interacted with Team 7, and even though he had already experienced and read about them, they weren't any less confusing and overwhelming. "Please, let me explain, Ino-san… I.. promise you that--"

"—Don't waist your time promising me anything Sai; I don't believe in you anymore" And with that, Ino was more than ready and _eager_ to close the door in his face—but he stopped her again.

"It wasn't the way you think it was, Ino-san" Sai whispered softly, something akin to grief filling his words, and absently, Ino noted that it was one of the firsts times that she saw the boy victim of _any_ emotion.

And maybe it was that thought which made her wait there, in silence, aware of the boy's eyes that had now dared to pose on her back.

The boy rightly interpreted her silence, and went on, raising his voice only enough for Ino to hear him, "It's not that I didn't want to go with you to the dance, Ino-san... I wanted to, really. But I just… _couldn't_"

His words sunk quickly on Ino's mind, and she turned around roughly, glaring at him, her eyes narrowed and her brow frowned. "And why it's that? What stopped you from going with me if you wanted to so badly!"

"I…" Sai lowered his eyes once again, "…Promised it to someone"

Now, Ino was surprised.

"You… _what_? What did you promise?" She asked, taken aback.

"I.. promised that I wouldn't go with you, Ino-san.."

"…To who?" The question left Ino's lips softly, her eyes wide open and her orbs trembling with emotion and uncertainness, her mouth agape. She had the feeling that she knew where all this was heading, she had the feeling that she already knew who Sai was talking about, but it couldn't be… it just couldn't, because… because it just _couldn't_ happen. _Never_. There was just no way. Not a chance, that him, _out of all people_, would do that…

Sai took his time to answer, the doubt never leaving his face. But at the end, his lips parted, and his answer came in the form of a mere whisper that sent a shiver up Ino's spine.

"…To Sasuke-kun"

* * *

"_Heh, don't worry, Sai. Is something much easier than that…"_

_Sai blinked a few times, before smiling softly once again. _

"_Then I don't think there'll be any problem, Sasuke-kun" Enlarging slightly his smile, Sai added, "Just ask, and I'll do my best to please you" _

_It was a bad thing for Sai to have his eyes closed, __since because of that, he missed the smirk that started to curve Sasuke's thin lips. _

"_I want you to not go with Ino to the dance" _

_His request made the smile erase from Sai's lips, and the boy opened his eyes, his expression torn between perplexity and slight irritation, "What?" _

_Sasuke arched one eyebrow at the boy's reaction, but smirked still, "What you heard. I want you to tell Ino that you won't be able to go with her; find an excuse, anything you want__. Tell her that you have a mission or something, whatever. But tell her that you won't go with her" _

"_Why do you want me to do that?" Sai asked finally, his brow furrowing, no traces of his smile present on his expression. _

"_I have my reasons" Was Sasuke simple answer, accompanied by a careless shrug of the shoulders. _

"_You want to go with her, don't you?" _

_But Sai wouldn't have any of Sasuke's cool and aloof antics, and his words were spoken with an edge that made them more a statement rather than a question, causing Sasuke's eyes to enlarge slightly before narrowing. _

"_I never said that" _

"_There was no need. What other reason would there be for you to not want me to go with Ino-san to the dance?" Sai stated, brow furrowing once again. _

_Both boys stared intently at each other for a couple of moments, no word or sound interrupting the silence that was lingering upon them. _

_Until finally, Sasuke broke__ off the visual contact by turning around. He sent the boy one last wary look, before starting to walk away. _

"_Think as you please, that's not my problem. You already said that you would fulfill my request, no matter what it was, so it's up to you now" _

_Were the lasts words Sasuke said, before slowly disappearing from Sai's visual field, the boy's eyes staying glued to his retreating back until he was out of sight. _

_And right then, as he watched him disappear, he wondered why in the world he had wanted __to be his friend so badly. _

_

* * *

_Sai's relate meet nothing but silence, as Ino's eyes stared intently at the ground, her brow furrowed, and her blonde hair-lock keeping her expression guarded from the boy that was standing in front of her.

"…Ino-san?" Sai inquired softly, as if afraid of breaking her with the most sudden move or sound.

But Ino didn't say a thing, her shoulders stiffening.

"Ino?" Sai said again, this time the barest hint of worry creeping onto his voice; his hand reaching forward to touch her as one of his feet gave a step forward.

But it was in that exact instant that Ino reacted.

Her fists clenched at her side, as her voice raised, anger, and sadness clearly showing in each of her words, "Leave, Sai"

Was her command, and Sai stopped dead in his tracks once again.

"Ino-san, I--"

"Leave" She hesitated a little, before adding, "_Please_"

And no matter how much Sai wished otherwise, a lady's command was an order, and Ino's voice—the _need_ on her voice, told him that he had to do as she said.

So, lowering his still extended hand, Sai turned softly around, stopping right when his hand reached the door-knob of the door, his eyes itching to take a look at the blonde. But he kept his head lowered, not turning to take a glance at her.

"…Goodbye, Ino-san"

"…Bye, Sai"

He hadn't really expected her to answer him, and the fact that she did only made his need of staying even greater, so he ignored her words, and left, softly closing the door behind him.

And as he slowly started to walk towards his house, he passed by the flower-shop's window, and his head turned towards it just in time to see Ino's figure getting lost behind the counter.

And Sai couldn't manage to hide the deep emotion that possessed his pretty features as he forced himself to ignore what he had just seen, and to keep on walking.

- -

* * *

Like I said on the previous chapter, things are still starting to move. I hope Sai wasn't too OOC; but take into account that right now, Sai _does_ like Ino, even though he probably isn't completely aware of it. And besides, I adore getting the guy into emotional situations.

Anyway, the Sasuke-Ino part is finally starting to reach the boiling point, and Ino-Sasuke is starting to move as well. There will only be 2 more chapters and this will be over. The dance is just about the corner, so don't forget to review!

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!


	6. No turning back now, Let's do this!

I'm sorry for setting off your alerts when there isn't a new chapter to read—_I'm working on it, but I'm kind of stuck right now_—but I wanted to let you guys know that I went through the previous chapters and fixed a few things. Nothing too major of course, because I didn't want to clash with the canon I had already established. But for starters, I changed the alignment of the text so it is no longer centered; hopefully it will be easier to read now. I also added a few new dialogues, change old ones that didn't quite feel right characterization-wise anymore, and fixed a few odd-sounding lines and mistakes.

So hopefully it all floods better now.

I also wanted to thank you all for your support through the story. I am really thankful for your reviews and kind works, so hopefully what's next to come won't disappoint.

I am also thinking about hearing some ideas, to see if it helps me get over my writers block. So if there's anything in particular you want to see happening on the next chapter, write me a review and tell me about it! Who knows, it might make it to the chapter!

Like I said the first time I posted this chapter, he Dance will be the next one. And depending on my inspiration, there can be 1 or 2 chapters left. Perhaps an epilogue as well.

I know I always say there are _two_ chapters left—_I don't get that, either_—but this time, I actually mean it.

So, enjoy what's left of the story!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

_**No turning back now. Let's do this!**_

**- -**

* * *

"Oi! Weren't those supposed to be blue?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Read the list! That's what it's there for!—Actually, _don't_. _I_ was the one who wrote that list, and I'm _fairly_ certain those should be blue"

"…Then what should I do with these?"

"Go change them, of course!" An irritated roll of the eyes, and she turns her back on the girl, who frowns dejectedly for a few seconds before going back to the storage room from where she came from. "People these days.." She complained aloud, when she was sure the girl wouldn't be able to hear her, "can't even be able to follow the simplest of instructions; green napkins instead of blue ones, jeez. Doesn't she have at least the barest sense of taste?"

"What are you complaining about now, Ino?" Inquires a mocking voice behind her. Recognizing it right away, the blonde doesn't even turn around to meet her.

"I wouldn't be complaining so much if they actually knew how to follow directions!" An aggravated roll of her eyes, and Ino lowers her tone of voice so only the two of them would be able to hear her words, "I really don't know where Tsunade-sama found these people, Sakura"

The pink-haired girl lets an un-lady-like snort abandon her lips, as she sets the basket full of arrangements—flowers, hats, small-pink-_thingies_—at the table besides the blonde. "Haven't you thought that perhaps the problem isn't them, but the bizarre orders you're giving them?"

Ino snorts, "As if" and an indignant shrug of one shoulder causes Sakura to chuckle softly.

"Seriously, Ino. Don't let the power get to that thick head of yours. You may be in charge, but don't get too worked-up because of that"

"Heh, look who's talking. Miss 'I'm-in-charge-of-the-mission-so-we-have-to-plan-it-with-a-month-of-anticipation' Haruno!" Ino turns sideways to shot Sakura a cocky smirk, which causes the other girl to blush with embarrassment, immediately trying to cover it by focusing her attention on the arrangement's basket. Ino pretended not to notice the crack that appeared on the table Sakura was currently leaning her hands on.

"Shut up, pig"

"The truth hurts, doesn't it, billboard-brow?"

"Whatever" Sakura rolls her eyes and waits for the blush to subside before staring at Ino from the corner of her eye. The blonde was too busy to notice though, hanging small decorations on the walls. "…So, you're going with Sasuke-kun, then?"

Ino's hand halts briefly, her eyes narrowing slightly. But then she gets a hold of herself and continues her task; "Yeah forehead, how many times do I have to tell you?"

Sakura rolls her eyes once again at her friend's picky mood, but decides against commenting about it. "I'm just having a hard time believing it, ya know? Sasuke-kun with such a pig like you"

"Oh I know the feeling all too well. I was shocked too when someone as _hot_ as Naruto asked a forehead such as yourself to the dance" She doesn't need to turn around to know the embarrassed and offended blush covering her friend's cheeks, and thinking about it made her grin.

"Since when do you consider Naruto hot, anyway?" Sakura asked after a few seconds, her voice curiously low and choked.

"Since he grew out, developed a body and got ride of that scandalous orange suit, of course" Pausing, she turns towards Sakura and shows her a bright grin, "But do not worry, he's not my type. And besides, you two look too cute together for me to ruin it"

Sakura can't help but to smile sincerely at her, affection and gratitude shinning clearly in her green orbs—the thought of Ino finding them '_cute'_ together making her feel all warm inside. Getting a hold of herself, and adverting her eyes from the blonde and instead focusing her attention once again in the arrangements, Sakura once again addressed the topic she had been meaning to comment about. "Anyway, Ino-pig. Shouldn't you be happier?"

"Happier? Why? _How_?—There's no way I can be happy when the dance is in just a couple of hours and I'm surrounded by idiots!" the blonde threw her arms up in the air out of sheer frustration, and Sakura rolled her eyes yet again.

"Jeez, thank you for your appreciation, Ino" Her childhood friend waved a hand dismissively, and Sakura sighed, "I meant that, you're going with _Sasuke-kun_. The boy you have been after since forever—_shouldn't_ you be happier?"

Ino shrugged nonchalantly, "I _am._ But you didn't expect me to go around jumping like a bunny of some sorts, did you?"

"Not exactly—but something like that, yeah" This time Ino is the one who rolls her eyes, and Sakura looks at her thoughtfully, "What's the matter, Ino?"

'_God damnit, this forehead knows me a little too well' _

Ino thought, somewhat aggravated. And knowing that she wouldn't be able to beat the bush around that subject this time, she let out a tired sigh. "It's just… it doesn't mean a thing, alright?"

The pink-haired girl blinked, without understanding Ino's point. "What do you mean?"

"To Sasuke. It doesn't mean a thing _to Sasuke_" Ino explained softly, doing her best to hide the hurt from her eyes and voice. "He only wants to go out with me so he can get out of this one—heck, he even asked _you_ first—so if it doesn't mean a thing to him why should it mean anything to me?"

_Ouch_. Now Sakura understood very well the logic behind Ino's thinking, and she couldn't help but blame Sasuke for it—Seriously, the guy didn't know how to express himself sometimes, and he also sucked greatly at showing his feelings. Sakura spared a few seconds to thank whatever gods were up there for Naruto and his annoying but life-saving bluntness, before finally addressing Ino's point. "You're being a little too harsh, Ino. You know Sasuke-kun, even if it _did_ mean something to him, he wouldn't be able to show it so easily"

"That's not an excuse, forehead. The point is that it _doesn't_ mean a single thing"

"I wouldn't be too sure of that if I were you, Ino—look, I know Sasuke-kun alright? Or at least I'd like to _think_ I do--"

"—You _do_"

"—Anyway, the point is that when he asked me it was different from when he asked _you_, Ino. He asked me because I'm his teammate, but he didn't look particularly disappointed when I told him I couldn't—instead, with _you_, we couldn't even name Sai because he would completely freak out"

"Sasuke doesn't freak out"

"He got all moody and psycho on us. That's the equivalent of freaking out on Sasuke-land"

Ino rolls her eyes; some part of her acknowledging the logic behind Sakura's explanation, but the cynical part of her choosing to disregard it all. "Sasuke has never liked Sai. It's as simple as that"

"—And Naruto also told me" Continued Sakura, ignoring Ino's intervention, "that Sasuke-kun spent the whole day smirking like an idiot yesterday" the Haruno smirks with satisfaction, while turning to watch Ino's reaction to that particular piece of information. The blonde, who had briefly stopped working as Sakura's words entered her ears, upon feelings the girl's eyes on her pushed away her surprise and continued hanging arrangements instead.

"That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't have to be related to me"

"_Right_, because he would surely be on a great mood thanks to his meeting with Tsunade-shishou" After a good roll of her eyes, Sakura sighed "Look, Ino. Think whatever you want to think, alright? I was just trying to open your eyes"

"Here is the stuff you requested. I gotta go to Tsunade-sama's office right now—remember to be at my house on time, pig! See ya later!"

"Yeah, yeah see you"

Ino sighed softly as she heard Sakura's fading footsteps. She didn't get why the pink-haired girl was insisting so much on the Sasuke-issue; it wasn't doing her any good—she spent all these years working so hard to get over him, and she had believed she had succeed.

Only for Sasuke to come and mess things up with his twisted sense of humor.

It wasn't fair at all. And she refused to dare to hope for anything only to have her hopes crushed mercilessly—it had happened way too many times already, and Ino didn't think her heart would be able to hold itself together if the Uchiha broke it once again.

She didn't want to try and wait-and-see, either.

So with a new and tired sigh, Ino once again resumed her work, planning to push away all Sasuke-related thoughts from her conflicted mind.

And so focused was she on her resolution and forgotten train of thought, that she didn't notice the figure silently approaching her and coming to a halt right behind her.

"Hello, Ino-san"

The flower she had been holding fell from her hands at the sound of his unexpected voice, her heart skipping a beat and her blue-eyes widening with surprise.

"…_Sai_"

* * *

"Oi! Bastard! Get up already!"

Some incoherent mumblings are the only thing Naruto gets as an answer.

"Teme! I'm talking to you!"

"….shuddup" Was what the murmur sounded like this time for the blonde, and he watched with slight exasperation how his friend turned over on his bed, placing the pillow above his head pretty much in the exact same way Naruto himself is used to do every day.

Oh, but today was different.

"Sasuke!"

"...Fuck off dobe. Leave me alone"

And with those words, Sasuke kept sleeping.

Naruto's eyebrow started twitching.

What the hell was up with Sasuke, anyway? He was normally the one to be up earlier, annoying Naruto to no end with the noises he made in the bathroom or while he was serving breakfast to himself—oh, because _that_ was another matter that had Naruto one step away from asphyxiating the guy. Couldn't he cook for Naruto as well, damnit? He was eating _his_ food, after all!

It may have been the not-so-suppressed anger that always came over him whenever he thought about it, or perhaps it was simple the fact that Naruto was not very patient when it came to Sasuke—hell, his patience reserve for him had completely wore out during those damn three years he spent chasing after him. But his next and brilliant curse of action didn't take long to make itself clear in his brain; and it didn't take him long to turn on his heels, and strode towards the kitchen, either.

The next time Sasuke heard steps approaching him, he also felt a rush of something cold being emptied on his head.

Needless to say, that was more than enough to get the boy to go from sleepy mood to fully-awake-and-ready-to-kill-someone mood. That someone of course, being Naruto.

"What the hell, dobe?! What do you think you're doing?!"

"What does it look like I'm doing, bastard?!" The blonde snapped back, leaning forward and pushing his face into Sasuke's personal space, not the least bit scared of the boy's killing glare and ugly scowl. "Waking you up, of course!"

Sasuke's scowl deepened, as he shook his head to get ride of the drops of water that were trying to make its way into his eyes; all the time, managing to keep his glare focused at his friend, who was leaning way too close for comfort.

None of them seemed to care about that though; they were too used to it.

"And who the hell asked you to wake me up? Are you _stupid_, stupid? We don't have any missions today!" Naruto's eyes only narrowed further, and he answered back, with a tone that had a slight hint of indignation edged to it.

"And who cares about missions? Don't you know what today is, you ungrateful bastard?!"

It took said bastard a good minute and a half to actually follow his friend's train of thought. And when he finally did, and understood what the ruckus was all about, he only wished even harder to stay on the bed; buried deep under the sheets, away from them all.

But there was no way he would muster his thoughts out loud, so he settled instead for an easier answer. "…Tch"

Finding _some_ satisfaction on Sasuke's monosyllable answer, Naruto leaned back, straightening himself and folding his arms across his chest, giving the other boy a derisive thoughtful look with those blue eyes of his. "Exactly. So get on your sorry ass already and start to move. We are already late for our schedule"

At that, Sasuke couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow, "_Our_ schedule?"

"Yes, the schedule _I_ planed for the both of us" Was the blonde's answer, as he made his way towards the kitchen, looking over his shoulder just long enough to allow Sasuke to clearly hear his words, "You should feel honored I took the time to plan something for _you,_ too!"

"Hn, I didn't ask for it…" The Uchiha whispered under his breath, not quite loud enough to Naruto to be able to catch it, his eyes adverting from the blonde's back and focusing instead on the night-table beside his bed.

Which allowed him to realize just _what_ time it was.

His irritation came back and hit him full force, as he turned his head around to once again face the corridor the blonde had disappeared through.

"DOBE! Did you see just how damn early it is?!"

"What's the big deal 'bout that?! Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are up and working already!" Came his annoyed answer from the kitchen, and Sasuke couldn't help but to blink at that.

The mere mention of the blonde brought back memories that he had tried to keep at bay during the previous day as a whole; memories and questions that he knew he would have to get answers to sooner or later.

He decided it would be later, though. He shook his head once again, trying to clear any thoughts concerning the loud and pretty blonde from his mind. Drops of water flied around him with the soft action, and Sasuke kept his mind busy with cursing the _other_ blonde that was the source of his current foul-mood.

What was it with him and blondes, anyway?

"Sasukeeee! Stop being so lazy and get your ass here! We're not going to have enough time for training if you don't hurry up!"

_Training_?

Sasuke's ears perked up at the word, and from the kitchen, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle with satisfaction as he could hear all too clearly the Uchiha's soft steps signaling he was finally up and making his way towards the bathroom.

"Heh, knew that would get him moving. Sasuke is too damn predictable for his own good"

* * *

After some good minutes of awkward staring and silence only slightly muffled thanks to the voices around them, Ino finally decided to speak, since it seemed that Sai was too busy with whatever was going through his mind to even give it a try.

"Shouldn't you be on your way to the mission?" She asked, disregarding what she had originally wanted to ask after deeming it as overly rude, even from her. After all, she didn't know just why Sai was there, and with what intentions.

What did the boy want to prove? If he was there to apologize, he was just wasting his time. Ino had thought enough about it, and she had already reached a conclusion without needing his presence.

So she turns her back to him, once again focusing on finishing the arrangements.

"...I don't have to leave yet. My team leaves in an hour, Ino-san" Was the boy's answer, said in that usual calm and awfully polite tone of his.

"And why did you come here? Shouldn't you be getting ready?"

"I _am_ ready. And besides.." Sai started, watching Ino's back as she fumbled with a particularly long set of flowers. "I wanted to see how you guys were doing.."

"I see you're doing perfectly well. These decorations are lovely" And for good measure, he twists his lips into his trademark polite smile, even though the blonde wouldn't be able to see it.

"Thanks, Sai"

If he was hoping his compliments would get him anywhere though, he was clearly mistaken. And after realizing that, Sai couldn't help but sigh. It seemed that it wouldn't do him any good to try and approach the subject in an indirect way; everything with Ino was blunt and straight to the point. That was something he knew all too well.

It was one of the things that had drawn him to her, after all.

And now that he thought about it; it probably attracted Sasuke-kun, too.

The thought did nothing to lighten the pressure that was currently set upon his shoulders.

"…Ino-san?"

At hearing Sai's tentative call, Ino couldn't help but sigh, finally resigning herself to the fact that she just wouldn't be able to focus on working with the boy right there behind her. She had never been able to ignore his presence before, and from the looks of it, this wasn't the day when that particular fact would change.

"Yes, Sai?"

The boy took some moments to answer her question. What was unknown to her though, was that he was scratching his cheek in the way he liked to do so much whenever he was embarrassed or feeling nervous.

"…Would you… forgive me?"

Ino couldn't truly say that the words had taken her by surprise; but knowing the odd boy would say it was a lot different than _hearing_ him doing so. So she found her eyes widening slightly, her back straightening.

"I.. know that what I did wasn't the right thing to do in that situation, but--"

"-It's alright, Sai"

Her own words were the ones that surprised her the most, though. They took Sai by surprise too, the boy not being able to hide the comical widen of his black eyes and his shocked expression.

"I mean," Ino hurried herself to add, finally taking a hold of her mouth before it could possibly say something she would regret later, "Of course that what you did was wrong; it was _idiotic_, to trade your date merely because someone gave you a hand and stopped you from falling flat on your face"

She rolls her eyes at that, and behind her, Sai starts scratching his cheek once again. "But.. it wasn't really your fault. I understand that now"

And she did.

After some minutes of being alone in her flower-shop, pondering Sai's words and actions in her mind, she didn't have a doubt that if anyone was to blame about the matter, it was no one else than Sasuke himself.

The thing was though, that she just didn't know how to feel about that.

Was there _really_ something to blame him for?

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Ino focused on the task at hand.

_Sai_.

She would decide what to do and _think_ about Sasuke later.

"You do?"

She couldn't help but smile at the hint of disbelief in his voice, and she allows herself to fake an overly dramatic tired sigh before turning around to meet him face to face.

"Yeah, you were just returning a favor, right?—It doesn't mean that you did things the right way, though. But I guess you'll learn those things with time"

And for good measure, she gives him her trademark grin.

He answers it back with one of his smiles, but there's not a doubt in her mind that this time he means it.

After that, talking becomes easier.

* * *

"Fuck, you _stink_!"

Sasuke stopped trying to dry his sweat, in order to direct a menacing glare in the blonde's direction. "Pardon me?"

"What? You're deaf now? You._Stink_" Naruto placed two fingers on his nose, making a disgusted face. "I was thinking about using the bathroom first, but you need it more than me"

"What are you talking about, idiot? _You_ stink" Sasuke smirks, "Quite literally, but metaphorically works fine, too"

Naruto has the expected reaction.

"What the hell are you trying to say, you bastard?! I kicked your ass today!"

Sasuke narrows his eyes.

"It was only a stupid training-session"

"Training-session or not, I'm still stronger than you!" Apparently remembering his old habits, the blonde stuck out his tongue at the Uchiha. Who in turn narrowed his eyes even further.

"You're an idiot"

"And you're a stinky bastard!" After a minute of glaring, Naruto grins. "And now go and take a bath, will you? We have an hour to get ready!"

Sasuke unfolds his arms, giving his friend a questioning glance. "An hour? I thought that _thing_ was at eight?"

"Yeah, but we have to be on Sakura-chan's house at seven! Did you forget about that?"

'_Then it's settled! Pick me up at Sakura's house tomorrow at __seven!'_

Crap, he had really forgotten. But with all the things he had in mind right now, who could blame him? There was only too much anyone's mind could handle, and even though he was an Uchiha, he was not the exception.

He resisted the urge to sigh.

"I'll be done in fifteen" He picked up the towel he had dropped and threw it at the basket where all the dirty clothes were in; then grabbed a cleaner one from the table. "And then you'll have the bathroom"

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up! We better not be late, or Ino and Sakura-chan will have our heads!" But even though it was an awful prospect, Naruto was grinning like a dork, "Just a punch from Sakura-chan would be more than enough for that"

If he wasn't in such a hurry, Sasuke would have turned around to actually see the love-sick face he _knew_ Naruto was making—_and make fun of it, too_—but as things were, he did _not_ see anything appealing about getting his head chopped from his body thanks to Sakura's brutal strength, so he could only spare the enough time to throw his retort over his shoulder.

"You seem to be forgetting Ino's developed shintenshin. She could get you to cut your _own_ head without even dropping a sweat"

Behind him, Naruto huffed and folded his arms above his chest. "Sakura-chan would kick her ass if she did that"

Sasuke snorted, just before closing the door behind him.

But the thickness of the wooden door wasn't able to muffle his comment.

"_As if" _

Naruto couldn't help but grin with satisfaction.

Who would have thought Sasuke would be so defensive of Ino, huh?

* * *

A sigh left her lips, and she took in a deep intake of breath. She couldn't understand why in the world her heart was beating so fast against her chest, when she was only at her friend's house. Her _best_ friend's house. It wasn't as if she had to go to the dance right there and then, or if Sasuke was somewhere near.

_Sasuke_.

She had been trying to prevent herself from thinking about him the whole day, exactly for those reasons. The way her heartbeat seemed to become even more erratic by the mere thought of him, the way her cheeks got warmer, or the nervous chills that ran through her spine. _Everything_.

She shouldn't be feeling like that. She didn't have time for those things, and much less for _him_ out of all people. She was supposed to be over all that years ago, after everything that had happened, after all his rejections.

She was supposed to focus on Sai, or someone else. _Anyone_ but him.

Neither of them needed her stupid feelings to complicate their already weak relationship; she had worked hard to get them to where they were right now. And she didn't want to lose it just because her stupid heart decided to go back 3 years in the past.

But _who_ could blame her?

She had done her best effort, she had been moving on so _damn_ well… and he just had to come and twist it all. He just _had_ to come and give her hopeless heart some tingle of hope, and that was more than enough to unlock everything she had been trying so hard to leave behind.

_Damn Sasuke_.

Damn him and his twisted mind! This was all his damned fault!

His damned fault for being so damn—

"Ino? What are you doing there?"

The questioning voice of her best friend makes Ino jump slightly, her heartbeat increasing even more thanks to the surprise, her hand flying to grasp her chest by reflex.

Sakura blinks for an instant, but then she smirks. Oh, she would never miss the chance to tease her a little. "Heh, I didn't know you were so easy to scare, piggy"

Her comment is enough to make Ino regain her composure, an smirk already curving the corners of her lips as she readjusts her bag on her shoulder and confidently flips her long ponytail, "I only get scared when ugly foreheads like you appear in my way, Sakura"

The pink-haired girl resists the urge to let out a growl and throw the door on Ino's face, and instead moves to the side in order to allow the blonde to enter the house, not without glaring daggers at her smirking face. "Why didn't you knock?"

"I got lost in my thoughts for a sec" She was just thinking about lying when the truth simply came out her lips. She smacked herself inwardly, for trusting Sakura so bloody much. She already knew what was coming.

"You're nervous?"

Ino takes a few seconds before turning towards her, her expression carefully masking her inner struggles.

Nervous was an understatement.

"Like hell I am. Why would I be? I'm just making Sasuke a favor, aren't I? And besides, I'm eager to hear all the compliments about my amazing fashion sense"

Sakura smirks, "Heh, you had me for a second" Her smirk contorts into a smile though, and she starts to go up the stairs. "It isn't too bad to let yourself open up, you know Ino? You may want to give it a try tonight"

Ino merely stares at her, her brow furrowed in thought. She has just a second to muse over Sakura's words though, as her voice is heard from the upper floor.

"Come on, Ino! They have to be here at any moment now!"

Ino's heart skips a beat, and she doesn't even have the enough strength left to curse herself for that.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!"

And with that she's running up the stairs.

* * *

"Which one do you think looks better, Sasuke?"

Said boy raised his head, focusing his onyx eyes on the blonde who was currently staring in front of his mirror, holding a red tie in one hand and an orange one in the other. Sasuke would have chuckled at the almost comedic seriousness in which Naruto was pondering his mundane decision, but he was too busy trying to keep his heartbeat in check.

Just why did his heart insist on skipping a beat, anyway? He could not possibly be tired from all the training, could he?

"Orange"

Was his nonchalant response, just before he returned his attention to getting his own tie to look perfectly straight. Sasuke had to admit that he would have liked to wear that red tie Naruto had more than the one he was currently wearing, but something told him that Ino would like to look in sync with him. And that something told him that he should wear something purple.

Though he had been pleasantly surprised to see just how well purple and black matched together. And how well it all contrasted with the pale tone of his skin.

And fuck, he was just starting to sound like a narcissistic girly-guy.

Thank God Naruto couldn't read his thoughts.

"Yeah, I was thinking that, too" The blonde agreed, carelessly throwing the rejected tie to one side, and now focusing on trying to actually wear the orange one.

"Then why did you ask me?"

"I just wanted to hear someone's opinion. It wasn't as if your tongue would fall out or something for helping" Sasuke was just about to answer the blonde's comment with a witty comeback of his own, when he realized that said blonde was _still_ struggling with his tie; his tongue sticking out from one corner of his lips and everything, his brown furrowed in utmost concentration and the noticeable start of frustration.

He would have chuckled at him, consequently starting a heated argument where Naruto insisted that he had everything under control. But a quick check to his wrist-watch was more than enough to take the tempting idea out of his mind.

There was no time to waste on childish things.

Naruto's blue eyes widened with surprise as Sasuke's hands suddenly reached from behind him towards his throat. There was a second of unwanted panic, as he wondered just why in the world he hadn't noticed the black-haired boy approaching him from his reflex on the mirror—and worse than that there was another second full of chills on his spine thanks to the sudden proximity.

"O-oi! _What the hell are you_--?"

Was the first thing he said when he finally regained his voice, and by that time Sasuke's hands had just gotten a hold of his tie.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to fix your tie, since you seem to be such an idiot that you can't even do that"

He sees the traces of a smirk on the Uchiha's lips, and much to his horror that only adds to the sudden blush that was coloring his cheeks and to the knot that had formed on his throat. Damn, why in the world did he have to be so easily impressionable?! If Sasuke noticed his predicament he would never let him live it down, that bastard!

"I didn't need your help" He ends up muttering, adverting his eyes from the mirror, and focusing them on the nearest wall. Sasuke though, did exactly the opposite to that, finally bringing his eyes to watch their reflexes on the mirror, realizing with slight surprise Naruto's flushed expression.

For some reason or another, it almost made him smile.

"Yeah, whatever you say, dobe" A final tug, and the tie was in its correct position. Pleased, Sasuke gave a step back, allowing himself and the blonde to admire his work. He can't help but snort, "Now we won't have to be late, and lose our heads will we?"

He's turning around and walking ove to the bed to grab his jacket, when Naruto's whisper reaches his ears.

"…Thanks"

He isn't sure if Naruto intended him to hear, he isn't even sure if Naruto _wants_ him to say anything. So for an instant, he's caught completely off guard; stopping dead in his tracks, his hand hesitating for the hint of a second and his fingers just barely brushing the soft material of his jacket.

But then the second is over, and he has made his decision. His jacket is confidently flung over his shoulder, he's striding towards the door. There are not even the barest traces of surprise or awkwardness on his features or body language.

"Let's go, dobe"

He says when he passes by his side and Naruto nods, taking a deep breath before letting a bright grin curve his lips, his hands giving a soft tug on the tie in order to make it look somewhat messy.

_Exactly his style._

His grin widened, being pleased with how he looked. And a few steps ahead of him, Sasuke smirked.

"Altight teme, let's go!"

For some reason though, something quite trembled inside the Uchiha.

He refused to allow himself to accept that he was possibly being overwhelmed with anticipation.

- -

* * *

Hope there are not that many mistakes now. I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

See you all in the next chapter.


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